It's All Relative

No!  This Isn't Some Seedy Greek Myth
It may be seedy, yet there's no Greek in it.  As I have mentioned, Darling Daughter is up with us for a few days at The Mansion, anticipating Mother's Day, so we met yesterday in the foyer of my employer (who might be the Smigly-Ridz Lard And Offal-Rendering Company).  

Darling Daughter in the warm

 We made our way thence to the car park, which is logical enough as this is where the car had been parked.  I like to be clear about these things.  The cold damp air (of Spring, not that there was any discernible difference between Spring and Winter) helped bring on a fit of coughing (I've not been well, you know.  Have I mentioned this already?), which rather alarmed DD.
     "Oh don't <ACCCHHK  HHCCCHHH> worry, Sal, it's <HRRRRK ECCCHHHH> a lot better than <HHHHHHRRRRRR AKAKAKAKAK> it was," I wheezed in response.
     "What were you before!" she exclaimed.  "Dead?"
     What a wag, eh?  She gets it all from me, she can't take any credit.
     My response was that witticism from earlier this week, which I am gloastful enough to repeat:  "I wasn't so much at Death's door as sitting on his settee having a cup of tea with him."
     Like I said, it's all relative.

Pub Quiz Answers
I do beg your pardon for not listing these earlier, so I hope you've not been poised on the edge of your seat in pulse-pounding anticipation, making your coffee cup dance upon it's saucer.

Q19)  What is the anatomical name for the thigh-bone?  The femur
Q21)  Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard formed which group? The Supremes
Q4)  How many seconds in 1/4 hour?  Reply fast!  No calculators!  The clock is ticking!  900 seconds.  You ought to know - KNOW!!! - that there are 3,600 seconds in an hour
Q13)  The Road to Hell is paved with what?  (Hint: not asbestos)  Good intentions.  Distinguished from asbestos due to lack of H & S Executive issues
Q17)  What day follows Shrove Tuesday?  ("Wednesday" is not good enough)  Ash Wednesday

Our Finnish Friends
Looking through 'Empire' magazine - about films, not the British Raj, although that would be pretty awesome in it's own right - and a process whereby "a quick glance" lasts at least 20 minutes, what do I find but an article on Aki Kaurismaki, Finland's very finest film director*.  He did one of my very favourite films, "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" which is so funny I shall leave the "America" title in.

Definitely the funniest film ever.  

    Aki's latest film is "The Other Side Of Hope" and concerns a Syrian refugee in Finland, one of 20,000 who arrived there in 2015.  

Our protagonists

Spare a thought for these unfortunates, who have gone from Syria to a land made exclusively of ice, snow, pine forests and mosquitoes in summer, all washed down with alcohol and lots of it.  If you want a homely analogy, imagine walking from your nice warm centrally-heated lounge and into a walk-in freezer; it's that kind of difference.
     I shall gloss over the Polar Knights.  Some other time, maybe.

Beautifully cool.  Finland: where the ice comes from

A Most Despondent Doggeh
As you may be aware by now, Edna is firmly convinced that the human population of The Mansion, and your humble scribe too, are there to entertain her whenever she is awake.  She is, in fact, somewhat spoiled, although Wonder Wifey will probably leap to her defence on Facebook and belabour me about the head with clubs of rhetoric**.

The text-book example of "Despondent"

Chiswick Eyot
I now need a small article so I shall wheel out this interesting geographical feature.  An "Eyot", lest you be unaware, is a small island in a river, and it sounds wonderfully British, especially with "Chiswick" attached.  

At a distance

For those of you not familiar with The Modern Nineveh (a.k.a. London), Chiswick is one of the constituent boroughs.
     This part of the river is estuarine, so you get tides, and at low tide the Eyot is accessible to anyone with a pair of boots.  Not so at high tide!

That on the left - low tide.  That on the right - take a wild guess.

*  He's not the only one, his brother's a film director, too.
**  Maybe even real ones.  She loves that doggeh.