The Lockdown Diary - DAY 39

A pleasant Friday, all things being equal. I went full on guerrilla teacher today as both kids joined me in the same room and in the kitchen while I was cooking to cover areas of physics, plant biology, chemistry and maths.

My son had one of his mates text him about the SOHCAHTOA work of the day before (same problem layout, different values, which is an interesting randomisation of questions to prevent one answer fits all) and he brought it over to do while under supervision to check he had it right.

He did the work once he had it fully straight in his head and sent it to his mate. He was spot on. I bestowed the rank of Knight of SOHCAHTOA on him right there because I am that sort of geek, and also suggested that, as his mate hadn't sought out the method of arriving here, that any future such answers would require a high cocoa solids chocolate fee, as I am that sort of kitchen mercenary.

We have hit on a running gag of Overscouse, which involves us throwing out phrases with even broader accents than those we already have (and Christ, I'm broad to start with) which invariably touches a funny bone. My own go-to phrases are a crib from Alexei Sayle's work ("Fish. It's fukkkkking dizgustin') and a tenored "Wanna buy any bread or bacon?", which was a Saturday afternoon in the boozer thing in the 80s in particular. It's a brave man who'd buy, in a pub, cheese fetched out of the back of a Ford Escort windowless van. The single word "Straightener" often gets an airing too.

This led into where I was taking sausages out for cooking and I said to Mrs C as I held four of them in a string "The next time the dog gets out and makes a run for it up the road, we should video it and photoshop these in". The laugh out of her was sheer explosion as the image landed. I also stuck a fork in one and threw it across the room while doing the theme tune to Grange Hill.

I also went back to my son and asked him what the word was. He couldn't remember. I said SOHCAHTOA. He said "yes, but it isn't a word". "Neither is BODMAS", said I. "Yes, but that was drilled into us..."

It was all I could do not to say Q.E.D.

There are mathematicians all over the world who would have pissed themselves laughing on reading that.

If they keep watching that advert, there's no way that couple will be getting married in six months when this is all over, I don't care if they think their love... is stronger... than steel.

I also baked a plastic tub (unintentionally) when I switched the oven on, forgetting the remains of a rotisserie chicken from the night before was in there and left out, the cats would have been all over it. God's second mistake, cats. Consequently, I had to remove the melt which fortunately came off largely in one piece and the rest brilloed out easy enough. Didn't put a dampener on what was a pretty good day, though.

Recommended listening - A-ha, Take On Me



Been watching the decades programmes on Sky Arts and the Eighties has been on this week. How groundbreaking was this video? Might be easy enough today, but this was what, 1985, when everything was still largely manual?

"WATCH OUT, HE'S GOT A WRENCH!". The hair was a crime in itself...

Stay well