I’ve said it before and I’ll say it agian, those Limeys do not screw around!
But this,designed only a year later, gives much more of the Trevithick flavor:
All this time, I had not realized his name was pronounced tre-VITH-ick.
Holy smoke, how cool is that?
I’d love to have one to drive around the block and be the envy of all the neighbors!
It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again, next to parliamentary democracy and penicillin the steam engine is Britain’s greatest gift to the world!
OK, the Beatles come close. So does Jenny Agutter. And Charles Dickens.
And that Trevithick steam carriage is a hoot! Imagine that tooling around the streets of London with the new 19th Century only 2 years old.
And I thought it was pronounced TREV-i-thick.
And leave us not forget Diana Rigg. Tre-VITH-ick. I had no idea. I was at a heritage railway and there was a side show of traction engines and steam tractors, lorries and such. They all had license plates and two insurance disks (British proof of insurance mounted in a round brass holder- a neat little item,) one for the road and one for the boiler. There’s as much interest in steam road vehicles as rail vehicles over there. Carry on, chaps!
Diana Rigg. Oh baby…
Diana Rigg
Ada Augusta Lovelace
Emma Hamilton
and let us not forget that most famous original railfan
Fanny Kemble
That steam carriage was indeed an advanced design for the time, using (relatively) high-pressure steam for locomotion. The machinery must have taken quite a battering, though. Most of it looks unsprung, feeling every rock and crack in the street. The driver and passengers had it better, the driver’s seat and passenger carriage sat on leaf springs.
[quote user=“Firelock76”]
Holy smoke, how cool is that?
I’d love to have one to drive around the block and be the envy of all the neighbors!
It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again, next to parliamentary democracy and penicillin the steam engine is Britain’s greatest gift to the world!
OK, the Beatles come close. So does Jenny Agutter. And Charles Dickens.
And that Trevithick steam carriage is a hoot! Imagine that tooling around the streets of London with the new 19th Century only 2 years old.
And I thought it was pronounced TREV-i-thick.
[/quote above]
Actually, Parliamentary Democracy comes from the Greeks, and that is why it is a Greek word. But let us not forget Shakespear, G. Donald Harrision, Churchill, Benjamin Britain, Jacqulin Dupre, Sirs John Bararolli and (?) Beecham, Gustov Holts, and double-decked trams.
Then we can talk about Scotland and wiskey.
Will the Moderator mind if I inject the Balfour Declaration?
But the courage to hold out during the most critical years of WWII is possibly the greatest gift the UK gave N. America.
Actually, Dave, the Greek experience with parliamentary democracy only dates to 1843, which is why the operative word here … parliamentary, not democracy … is Norman, not Grecian. Representative government with separation of powers IS largely British and we should honor that for all that it is.
i appreciate Barcarolli and Sir Thomas, but why no Gilbert and Sullivan?
Just don’t get started on the food.
Also, there’s Reginald Mitchell, designer of the Supermarine Spitfire, to me the most beautiful aircraft ever built. AND- Real ale on cask! Ever have a pint of Dark Star Partridge Best Bitter? You’ll never drink lager again! Speaking of food, having that to wash down a bacon sarnie is without a doubt, one of my ideas of living in an English heaven!
54Light15 (and all)-- Living in Toronto you should know better than most that at Italian wedding receptions they always have a seperate “monge-cake” table ( “white bread”) for those Anglo friends in attendance that abhor anything tasty.
That’s Mangia-cake. For the “Mayonaissers” as Tony Soprano called 'em. Really, English food is different these days. London is full of top-notch stupidly expensive restaurants with grub from all over the world. They have more pretentious “foodies” than Toronto which has a train load of them. I was in a pub where Gordon Ramsey designed the food. I ordered a hamburger. It was two long sticks of finely ground beef on a very thin piece of bread. Whisky Tango Foxtrot was all I could say.
But for good unpretentious inexpensive food I eat in pubs and a steak-and-ale pie with a side of mash and peas with a nice pint is good eating. Also the curries are outstanding. There is a chain of fish and chips places called Superfish- everything is fried in beef tallow, Yorkshire style. You can feel your arteries shutting down but man, it’s good!
Do ya really think the Spit is prettier than the S6b?
And I don’t mean to imply there aren’t good British things to eat; just that the vast majority of the stuff tends to be … well, there is a reason that in European heaven…
the Germans are the engineers…
the Swiss are the bankers…
the Italians are the lovers…
the French are the cooks…
and the British are the police
Whereas, in European hell, the British are … ???
Italians/French Lovers/Cooks are interchangeable unless you want to start a war between who is the better cook and who the better lover.
In European hell the British are the cooks, and all hell would break loose.
Yes they are. But then the rest of the joke doesn’t work as well. There are at least SOME respectable French bankers…
[I am tempted to add that if hell broke out over the cooking the police would put a quick and final stop to it, ja ‘stimmt]
Just in case anyone does not recognize the other half of the punchline:
in European hell
The Swiss are the lovers…
the Italians are the bankers…
the French are the engineers…
the Germans are the police…
and well, that leaves the British. Most definitively leaves them, as the Goons (another Britannic cultural treasure) would probably have said.
(The joke is no longer quite as stinging, with respect to the French, as it was in the ‘70s when a French girl told it to me.)
In Hell the French are the engineers? I resemble that remark! I have owned a 1954 Citroen Traction Avant since 1983. It has the following:
All steel unit body
front wheel drive
Torsion bar suspension
rack and pinion steering
Wet-liner overhead valve engine
A “step-down” body long before the post-war Hudson
The first modern car and the basis for most cars built today. You can drive every day in normal traffic, it handles like a sports car and is a lot more reliable than any Mercedes I’ve ever owned.
Not bad for a car that came out in 1934 and over 700,00 were made. Production stopped in 1957 and it was still the most modern car on the road.
French engineers in Hell? Fooey to you, sir!
They screwed Chapelon over, then scrapped the 242 A1 as an excuse. For that alone, they deserve what I give them and more.
Well there is always the exception to the rule hence the successful Citroen model, but, French Engineering is an oxymoron! As for German police, don’t even go there. Swiss lovers?..ha ha ha good one, Italian Bankers, yeah ok, say goodbye to those funds! British cooks?..sure, have a chip. Also British lovers…no thanks, please we’re British. Hey this is fun!
Maintenance guy “Eric” was in my office today with another oxymoron…a spray can of “dry lube”…probably use it on Overmods “high level subway bridge” submission.
Thats enough, it’s Friday evening. Milankovitch cycles today twice to 2 different classes, 4 hours face time…I’m done.