TEST!! Had this been an actual post, you'd have been instructed to...

[westgrandboulevard]

The sad facts of life appear even sadder, the closer they become.....

[moe]

Oh yes. And I hope I am not "angry at the world" for becoming older [[a fact of nature).

[westgrandboulevard]

It's also called becoming wiser Moe - but that doesn't mean that what we've learned has always left us any happier, either.....!

[moe]

Quite right, westgrand. I'll have to work on my "acceptance with a smile" pose.

[westgrandboulevard]

Just imagine those cameras are on you, Moe.....

[moe]

"Strike a Pose", westgrand.........

[westgrandboulevard]

I hope our outfits don't clash with this red carpet.

[moe]

NEVER! We have too much clothes sense..........
I'm ready for my close-up, Mr.DeMille.........

[westgrandboulevard]

Soft focus for me, if you please....

[144man]

NEVER! We have too much clothes sense..........
I'm ready for my close-up, Mr.DeMille.........

That's "Sunset Boulevard", not "westgrandboulevard"!

[westgrandboulevard]

"I AM big. It's the POSTS that got small"

[moe]

VERY CLEVER RESPONSE, 144man!!!

[144man]

I will need a bigger size hat now, moe.

[westgrandboulevard]

You'll begin to resemble Billy Smart.....

[144man]

Life is a circus...

Who was it who said "Life is a three-ring circus: the engagement ring, the wedding ring, the suffering."?

[westgrandboulevard]

Perhaps one of the Ringling Brothers....?

[moe]

PT Barnum [[there's a sucker born every minute!)

[westgrandboulevard]

Being young in the US, I suppose you will have seen circuses on a much grander scale than we had here in the UK?

[moe]

Explain, westgrand. What were they like in the UK?

[westgrandboulevard]

In my youth during the 50s/60s, I'd say the biggest of the travelling shows were Billy Smart's and Chipperfields. I'm unsure if Bertram Mills toured, but they presented a Christmas show at Olympia in London, each year.

Billy Smart's & Chipperfields each had over a dozen elephants, and the total number of animals in the touring show was about 200, quite apart from the human performers.

Chipperfields Big Top could hold about 6000 people, so I think it was the biggest, although I never saw it. They diversified into animal parks, when the shows became too expensive, and the public concern for animal welfare grew. I must say, all the circus animals I saw seemed to be well maintained, but can well understand that the circus life was better suited to dogs, birds, horses, cattle, camels,maybe zebras, rather than the elephants, big cats, bears and sealions.

I've always imagined that the US travelling shows, having a much greater population as potential customers, and a larger road and rail network, would be spectacle on a much grander scale.

[144man]

There also used to be clowns, but with the demise of circuses they ended up as Members of Parliament and now run the country

[westgrandboulevard]

..sometimes becoming quite adept at tricks performed on the high wire, with the benefit of a safety net which is invisible to the rest of us.

[144man]

Yet they're pulling away the safety net from the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.

[westgrandboulevard]

....and yet seeming to allow hundreds of thousands of people from other countries to become resident in the UK, irrespective of any potential they may have to become an asset to our population.

[144man]

We only hear about the bad eggs. All my sister's carers are immigrants. The NHS would collapse without foreign nurses.

[westgrandboulevard]

As would the private sector nursing homes. The country of origin is not as important as the ability to speak English fluently, read and correctly identify medication.

[moe]

Well said, westgrand!!! Especially the "correct meds" part!!

[westgrandboulevard]

It's important to me that other people know what they're doing - especially if I don't.....

[moe]

It's important to me that other people know what they're doing - especially if I don't.....

You'd be surprised!!

[westgrandboulevard]

Of course, if we were all in a muddle, then our only worry would be the thought of becoming sensible.....

[moe]

Sensible? Common sense? What's that?

[westgrandboulevard]

Duhhhhhhhh. I'll have to think about it.....

Could common sense be bestselling perfumes?

[144man]

That stinks.

[westgrandboulevard]

But fragrantly so.....

[144man]

"Aerosols" is what I say...or something like that.

[westgrandboulevard]

You're 'pssssssssssstttt' again.....

[144man]

You were spraying...

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes I did, while you've been away a few days. You were mist.

[144man]

Scotch mist, of course.

[westgrandboulevard]

If it's Scotch, then a double on the rocks, please.

[moe]

Royal Lochnigar............[[I probably messed up the spelling!!)

[144man]

With Moe here it's a "Scotch and American"

[moe]

What can I say? This scotch is made at the foot of Balmoral Castle. Queen Victoria was invited to the distillery. She showed up with her whole family in tow a few says later..

[westgrandboulevard]

Since this is a Detroit forum, Highland Park is a good Scotch, too....

[moe]

So you do not discriminate scotch?

[westgrandboulevard]

Highland Park is distilled in Orkney, Scotland, so is definitely authentic - but perhaps only more so to us, in this particular part of the world.

Some of the US brands are probably just as good, if not even better?

[moe]

I have no idea, westgrand. Scotch doesn't exactly taste good to me

[westgrandboulevard]

I used to enjoy a little of an evening - first with American [[not totally sure now, it was a long time ago...), then just with water.

Some people swear by it, but I think it falls within the category of 'a little of what you fancy does you good'

[moe]

That's what my grandmother used to say!

[westgrandboulevard]

Both my grandmothers used to say a lot of things and, yes, "a little of what you fancy..." was one of them.

Everything in moderation, including moderation.......