u/cotedupy

(Which I took cos I’m packing to go on holiday tomorrow, and thinking about what to take).

1.) 1st Gen SPB143, i.e. without the lume pip @ 3 o'clock. I absolutely love the look of this watch. But alas I lost the 6R35 movement lottery, and it just stopped working after a while. By which time it was also out of warranty, so rather than paying a load of money for a service, instead I watched a load of Youtube videos about how to replace the movement, and swapped in an NH36 instead. Runs just grand now. :)

2.) SKX007k. My most recent acquisition, about 18 months back. Because I wanted an original version of what I think is the last truly iconic dive watch design, from any brand. Though unlike the other two here, I've not actually taken this one diving. And I probably won't — I'll probably wear it quite lightly, and try to keep it as near mint as possible.

3.) Yobokies SKX007. I think I got this around '08/'09 from memory. So back in the early days of modding, when the only way you could really get one was scrolling through hundreds of Harold's pictures on photobucket, and then sending an email trying to explain which bits you wanted him to use. Has certainly seen a lot of love since then; I've had to fix the bezel spring at one point, and tighten the rotor screw a couple of times, but still going strong!

At the beginning of October 2019 I visited Domaine Tempier, for a spectacular tour of the vineyards and winery, over several hours, with Daniel Ravier. And as we were finishing I spotted a pallet of the newly bottled 2017 vintage, which they had labelled specially to commemorate Lulu Peyraud (née Tempier)’s 100th birthday. It hadn't yet been released, so wasn't for sale, but Daniel very kindly gave me a bottle.

Afterwards I was standing around outside having a smoke in the sun, when a lady, I guess in her 70s, came up and insisted on going to get a table and chair for me. We got chatting (her English was fluent, as I think she said she’d been a teacher in Paris for a lot of her life) and after about 10 mins I eventually clocked this was Laurence — Lulu and Lucien's daughter. And so, as I was about to leave, I thought I might as well ask: if her mum was awake, whether she'd mind signing my bottle of 2017 Domaine Tempier 'Pour Lulu'…

I had intended to take my copy of the utterly wonderful Lulu's Provençal Table, just in case she might be able to sign that. So the bottle more than made up for the fact that I forgot to pack the book.

Lulu died almost exactly a year later, at the grand old age of 102, and having left quite her mark on the world of wine and food. Santé!

https://www.winespectator.com/articles/lucie-lulu-peyraud-matriarch-of-france-s-domaine-tempier-dies-at-102

18 or so months back I was out in my garden having a cig at about 1am, and got treated to the whole weirdly-trippy-beautiful, highly acrobatic, 60+ min ritual of: slug sex. Made more trippy by the fact I had no idea what the feck was going on, and had (allegedly) just had a bump of ket.

But my sister, who’s a biologist, got very excited when I sent her the pics and vid the next day to ask about it — ‘OMG you saw the blue flower thing!!!’

Because apparently there’s a famous bit of footage from an Attenborough documentary, of the same. Which took them quite a long time, and multiple all-nighters, until they finally managed to capture it.

[The first pic is obviously rotated on its side. They’re hanging free from a ledge at the top of a small wall, via a long string of slime.]

If you asked anyone who knew me, they’d say I was probably really good at anagrams, because I’m quite ‘wordy’. But I’m not good at anagrams — I’m absolutely bloody hopeless. Play me at Scrabble and it’s like playing a six year old.

That is: if the letters are in a line. But if you put the letters in a circle, like the kind of puzzles in the pics, then I see the nine letter word almost instantly. Often as quickly as just reading it written out. And it’d basically never take me more than five seconds at most.

Is that common? Or something weird about the way my brain processes letters?

– Ooh, look at this cool duck we've got!
– Nah mate, it's not a duck.
– Well it looks like a duck, and it swims like a duck...
– JSN’s a real duck. Ours is just going through a 'duck-like' phase.
– But has it done anything other than quack in that time?
– Not yet, no.
– What do you think it is then?
– Pigeon, probably. 
– Really?! Why?
– Nobody else thought it was a duck when we got it.
– Oh, what did they think it was?
– An egg.
– [Blinks] Okaaaaaay...

So I went on his website to see if he might’ve done anything suitable for us in the NFC South.

Couldn’t find anything *specifically* for the Saints, but I think the final picture works pretty well.

At the London Aquarium you can buy a bag of like 20 or 30 small fossilised shark teeth for a just a few quid, or at least you could 20 years ago. Most of the ones in the bag will be broken, or chipped, or imperfect in some way. But you get some good ‘uns too.

My godmother is a jeweller and (clearly quite talented) silversmith, and I gave her one, and she cast it. I think she made about eight of them from memory, all from the same tooth/cast; mostly as necklaces like this, and two or three earrings. For me, my family, and a couple of friends.

Taking these pictures is the first time I’ve taken it off in at least a decade.

It’s not solid gold obviously; it’s either plate, or rolled gold. And the crystal is actually plastic.

I also keep an eye on the Seiko watch sub, and someone just posted asking about this rather cool clock they found.

Looks pretty snooker-related if you ask me. Anyone know anything more…?

Early on in the final Hendry made a comment about how unusual the look of Wu Yize’s bridge hand was. And I can tell you the reason for it is because he has a very prominent level of hypermobility in his fingers. (Pics 1-3).

But you can also see Mark Allen has it too (4). It’s very obvious when certain players are bridging over balls, like in the pictures.

(Pics 5 & 6 are just some I snapped of my own fingers to demonstrate what I mean. Most people’s fingers don’t bend like this. Though it’s also not massively uncommon either; I think the estimate is something like 10-20% of adults.)

Like probably a lot of people who aren’t professional sushi chefs, I spend a fair bit more time polishing and admiring my yanagiba, than actually slicing fish with them. But yesterday I decided to treat myself to some marinated tuna. And took some pics before I screwed up the polish on this one by using it, cos it’s quite nice.

Can’t remember exactly what stones were involved, but I likely finished with a Maruo SS and Uchi fingerstones.