Mr. le Marquis du Galipot would like to share the following with you: Up until the 3rd November 2005, I have every intention to carry on annoying you all. From the morning of the 3rd, mr. le Marquis du Galipot is obliged to put a little "pause" into his efforts, because he has a couple of appointments (hereafter referred to as "RV")dealing with some things called "heart"/ "tension"/ "cancers"/"diabetes"/"plus all the other little things one isn't allowed to have"! I told my "toubib" (an arab word used in France as a familiarity for the Doctor of Medecine concerned - but only if you have faith in him! It actually means, I am told, "Magicien") that he shouldn't dig too deep, but he explained to me that while respecting my desires, he did have certain responsabilities towards everybody, that meant the following: The Patient - Himself - The In/Assurances - Soci...

ne(i)wman_chipping_on Originally uploaded by iwmpop . Is this REALLY Chippie chipping in? Can't be Wacky-Backy, he's left handed. If it is Chippie, then it must be me holding the flag (since I'm the only one to know the rules and conduct of the game! The artist, incidentally, is Neiman, and the painting is on sale at 14,000.00 euros or dollars, I don't recall which. Try blowing this one up with your easy to use photo programme (even Chippie understands his) and have a poster made! With a frame surrounding it, you too can make a saving of some 13,900.00 euros/$.

All I can see are mosquitos. Originally uploaded by iwmpop . Just a little break between all these serious themes. Shows that life can be both pleasant and amusing. Our 2 intrepid explorers searching for MORE mosquitoes. Chippie and Tinkerbelle didn't find too many, but I did - noble blood do you see!

Listening to the TV the other day, I heard the name "Portsmouth" so I dropped what I was doing and watched. Now had the magic word been "Gillingham", I doubt if I would have had the same reaction, although it is rare to hear either of the two on French 3 TV! It appears those busy little business men in Portsmouth have developed a sort of "fuel additive" which they are now selling in grand style to the local authorities in France. They are making (apparantly) large economies by using this stuff for everything - heating,emergency generators, garden tools like mowers etc, and generally anything that works from a combustion engine, or burns fuel. Great stuff, but how come I've never heard of this additive being used elsewhere, like in UK or even in Portsmouth itself? Does it, maybe, make the engines concerned a little bit "ill"? Or is it cancerous? Or is it anyone of the hundreds of other bad reasons for not using it? According to the report done...

I don't want to say "told you so" because the lst article in this series (because that is what it is becoming) dealt with the "Christian" western world hemisphere. This one deals with the "other mainstream religions" eastern world hemisphere! Makes no difference, the worm is in the apple - this Planet - and whether this stems from religious beliefs, Gods or whatever else, it seems to be completely indiscriminate, no racism involved, and what is worse, even us non-believers are affected!! Yesterday floods, today earthquakes, tomorrow chicken 'flu pest? Who knows, but being the happy soul I am, I'll keep you up to date!

My question would be "why can't I have the winning lotto numbers for Saturday on Friday? And yours? (Go to the photo, and then click on the logo which comes up on the right bottom side to see the questions asked by kids!) Some are very amusing!

The new circuit. So, off we go again! This time China. I'm not sure (such is my passion for this sex-ersatz sport)but I think it's the first one in China. Very well arranged, to slow the pilots down, a few million Chinese have been selected to lie down side to side on the circuit (see picture), this makes it a choppy ride for the cars, and the driver slows down, the girlies watching on TV have multiple orgasms, the corpses are taken away and replaced by fresh ones (there is a goodly supply in the country). Eats and drinks are rice wine, and Mao red books in marzipan. Bernie Ecclestone has reported sick - he only likes "rare" cooked girlies, but not with slanted eyes. I don't think he was in Japan last week either. Anyway, amuse yourselves this Sunday (or is it Saturday in China and Sunday here or vice-versa - what the hell!). Here are the latest photos of the practice days, and for your orientation on this "new" F1 circuit. One of the favourite wagons in...

This is free of charge - for the moment (see bottom of page). As I recall, I was getting nowhere very fast with my story, so let’s go back to a district called “College” near Paisley in Scotland, around October 1946. This is Scotland in October, at the end of October indeed. There is no question of “planet warming” gases heating us up, too early – the industrials haven’t really got going, and so I decided to get myself born! Actually, I don’t recall exactly, but I think I didn’t have a great deal of choice in the matter, or I would without question have chosen a different place, a different family and a different moment to set head (it seems every baby puts its head on the ground first) on this planet. That would have been another story, but this one isn’t finished yet! This is NOT a photo of me, I was much more gorgeous, but it gives a sort of idea to the future readers of what a baby is, or was. Now, in 1946, what had been called the “great war” had been over for almost 30 years, a...

Turn up the sound, put on the "odours" button on your Teles, the madmen are back again! I'm sure it is a sexual thing, all that brmmmm/brmmmm and the phallic shape of the new cars, together with the girlies. Sign of frustration, I beleive. Maybe having 2 bathnights (a day) will sort it out! The last photo is from my Japanese "friend" on flickr (as you may have seen if you have followed my link http://www.flickr.com/photos/iwmpop/ ) Incidentally, it makes a lovely screensaver as well!

Well, well - maybe a message from wherever, but here I am listening to something which turned up on my Media Center, a "radio" channel called "BBC 7". I've listened, from 7pm this evening to the following: "Hancock's half-hour", "Steptoe and Son", "Just a minute" and a few others, which I recall from way back. If your interested (and it would appear to be available only on the Web) then go to either a search for BBC, and click "Radio", look for "BBC 7 " and put it on your favourite list. It's good fun, because you can stop and start whenever you want to! If you have a Media Center, go onto "Radio centre" and look for the "search" tool on the page. Type "BBC 7" and enjoy - "Hhhhhhancock's hhhhhhalf-hour" as though you were in bed in Scotland, with a crystal-set! You see - my title was correct, "Comedie dies slowly" So there we are, I'm off to li...

The above photo is one of a German actor, Harald Junke, who played the role in a play and film having to do with "politics gone mad". It relates to a subject which has gone suspiciously quiet in UK - that of the Identity Card. For those who don't know the story, the down and out old soldier, having served the Kaiser for many years, returns to his home town of Berlin, finds no work, except in a tailors shop, where he must cut and sew the magnificent, and expensive, uniforms of the Prussian Officers. He is thrown out because of economical problems (yes, they had them then as well!) and finds himself in prison, because he stole food to live, and didn't have the necessary ID card! A sort of "normal" story of the period. Except......... In prison, our hero plays the role (at recreation periods, and in the prisoner amusement periods) of a Prussian Officer, wearing the uniform of one such, made by himself. In prison, he is exceptionally happy, respected as someone...

Are you prepared to be inter-active? How about taking part in the "cooking ideas" spots I started putting in (the first one a little chaotic, I admit). Why not let us all know your own, or Grandmas secrets? Light airy Yorks Pudd, or the secret of a sauce, forgotten and covered with dust! I won't eat it like that, but if you give me the recipe, I can maybe make it freshly! Ladies - write it down, and tell "him indoors" (you know, the one who thinks he's responable for the computer) to send it on a "comment" file, preferably the comment file at the side of a "Cooking" article! Who knows what we may dig up from the past, in Holland,UK,France,Germany,Japan,and even USA! (I suppose that Macdonalds didn't ALWAYS exist). GO ON - GIVE 'IM 'IS ORDERS!

After the sad, but to be awaited (at his age) news of the demise of Ronnie Barker, I felt in the mood to render my homages to this "un-handsome" but truly amusing/funny person. He accompanied me and my generation (as well as others) through many problems, and helped us all by amusing us with his comedy. Day in, day out, we get more news of someone else who has fallen victim to the passage of time, and each time, the same question flashes across my mind - where are the people to replace these icons? Where are the singers of "normal - agreeable" music, where are the comedians with new jokes and situations to amuse us? Where are the artists and painters capable of works we can all understand? Where are the politicians we can trust? Where are the "characters" required to make the world go round, and not up and down? I do my best, but I need the help of all the others out there awaiting "discovery"!!!!!!!! Has life become so serious that one can...

Dear readers and fideles: "You are hereby invited, on the 3rd Thursday of November 17th November 2005 at 2030hrs, Chez Mr. le Marquis for his traditional festive meal to celebrate the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau 2005. Your seat at table is prepared, your presence would be most welcome. (your travel costs, unfortunately, will once again be left to you) RSVP (which means " I wanna know if you're comin').

Over the past year, I have continually had periods of "problematics" with my mate Chippie and his unscrupulous mail server, who seem to want to take over from him, and censore his incoming mail. This time, it is a beauty. I won't name the mail server concerned - AOL,Club Internet,Virgin,Tele2,Lycros etc..etc.., because they are all probably the same, and there is just the possibility that it is my mate Chippies fault (he is infallible, so I wouldn't dream to think that seriously). Anyway, I've tried 5 DIFFERENT accounts to pass a little message through to him, and they all come back saying "permanent failure at ------------ address". Has Chippie moved? Has Chippie disappeared? Has Chippie fallen out of love with your's truly? Or has Chippie opened that Pandora's box, in all your "C-disc" files marked "unwise"? OR - has Chippie been the victim of an unscrupulous mail server who will take over the world - if you let it? This tim...

As a young person, born the "son of a preacher man", I often had dealings with "same belief" friends of my parents, from the USA, who apparantly had come to UK to convert the British sinners. This took the shape of doing a tour of the UK, welcomed fervently in each location, and terminating in London, where they stayed with my parents, finished off the work I had already seen in Scotland and the North of England, which means that they ate us out of house and home, and in particular used up, with frivolity, the whole families meat ration, before taking their vitamin pills. Rare indeed were the occasions that they found themselves in certain areas, like the Gorbals in Glasgow, or the dock areas of Liverpool, or the East end of London (still suffering from bomb damage),Ireland was strictly "off-limit" as dangerous and Catholic! Not bad, a guided, prepared, tour - all paid - food and drink, bed and entertainement paid for. They repayed all this by screaming,...

I’m not giving up so easily!        If at first you don’t succeed then try and try again and again! With changes to HTML maybe I’ll get there! Sorry to bother you all, but it’ll all be some much nicer in the end! This would have been a photo of "Tundra in Winter" and my signature card - the big question is it either of them?     If not, I'm getting out!   iwmpop (Marquis du Galipot)