It's a bit tangential, but I had to mention Gladly, the cross-eyed bear.

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Wizard needs whiskey, badly!

Now him, I've heard of.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Years ago teaching a primary class for a school service, the class teacher and I spent some time explaining the meaning of 'There is a green hill far away without a city wall' only to discover that Church of Scotland CH3 had changed it to 'There is a green hill far away outside a city wall'...

I still hear the (far nicer) original in my head and would have thought 'outwith' a less prosaic substitute for perplexed Scots!

Another (possibly apocryphal) story I heard on the radio many moons ago was about a child impressed by someone singing a lovely song, 'Come for tea my people', from Handel's Messiah.

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And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.

Why I teach... and where
Master of nine?

We are, of course, into the realms of Mondegreens. My favourites have nothing to do with anything sacred: "It's this loaf, it's this loaf, it's this loaf, it's this loaf that I'm feeling" and "Tonight I sellotape my glove to you".

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"Only connect!"

What a wonderful word, which I'm not sure I've heard before! But, having just Googled it, can tell you that 'The Bonnie Earl o' Moray' was a childhood favourite of mine too (from Robin Hall & Jimmie Macgregor's 'Scottish Choice' LP) and I've never misheard 'laid him on the green'. You, however, have probably just ruined Bob Marley for me!

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And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.

Why I teach... and where
Master of nine?

And who can forget when Jimi Hendrix sang, "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy"?

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

It really is a fantastic word, isn't it? I love the origin of the word. And as for Bob Marley ... you're very welcome!

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"Only connect!"

Finally, tomorrow evening, I shall be making Mint Juleps for Deb and myself. It's been years coming, so I feel a little like a virgin, on a first night of love. Nervous, and excited.

The julep cups (English pewter, hand-made) are already in the feezer. I have made the 2:1 sugar syrup. Tomorrow morning I shall be putting the shaker, containing the bourbon, the mint leaves, the sugar syrup and the bitters, in the fridge. Then, tomorrow evening, I can crush a whole bunch of ice for the cups, bung some ice cubes in the shaker, and get julepping!

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"Only connect!"

So... how'd it go? Was it as great as you expected? What did Deb think?

This was, as I may have mentioned somewhere, the cocktail that first sparked my interest in cocktails. In the middle of one lazy-ish weekend day, some three or four years ago, I suddenly said, "I fancy a mint julep!". I had no idea what one was, so of course I had to go and look it up. We didn't have the right glasses - at that time, we didn't have any glasses really appropriate for most cocktails, and, in looking up the one thing, I got distracted and found hundreds of other cocktails that attracted my attention.

So this, on Friday evening, was our first ever mint julep! Hence the nervousness. What if we really didn't like them? I'd bought the (reasonably expensive) julep cups by then, and, well, you know ...

To our relief, we both loved them. We loved the whole drama of them. Having to put the shaker in the fridge at the start of the day, having to put the cups in the freezer the day before, having to crush a load of ice in my rather slow, hand ice crusher thingie (which, of course, goes by the name of Wesley ) ...

And they look so good. We were able to use fresh, young mint picked straight from the garden. I used Maker's Mark Bourbon (other makes are available), 2:1 sugar syrup, loads of fresh, young mint leaves (no stems) and Angostura Bitters.

What do you think of these?

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"Only connect!"

Very nice presentation.

Thank you. I'm hoping that the "eek" is because ... well ... damn! I am proud of it, though. And neither of us expected to like it anywhere near as much as we did. It's such an apparently simple drink - just Bourbon, mint, sugar syrup and bitters - but, made with care, it's fantastic! I really don't think it's a drink you can just throw together at the last minute ...

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"Only connect!"