Answers to the choc bar brain-teaser

Anybody get all 20? I have to admit there was at least one I'd never heard of ...

Benefits of a good vocabulary!

I recently called an old Engineering buddy of mine and asked what he was working on these days.

He replied that he was working on “Aqua-thermal treatment of  ceramics, aluminium and steel under a constrained environment”.

I was impressed until, upon further inquiry, I learned that he was washing dishes with hot water under his wife’s supervision.

Acupuncture

The changeling

Teamwork ...

Social distancing ...

"Two metres! How many times do I have to tell you?!!"

Thanks to John Harris for this one, originally posted on Facebook in Swedish.

Snoopy

Choc bars

Ok, so how many of these choc bars can you identify from their cross-sections? Solution in a few days' time ...

Viewpoint ...

Trump (yet again ...)

Lockdown lingo - are you fully conversant with the new terminology?

*Coronacoaster*
The ups and downs of your mood during the pandemic. You’re loving lockdown one minute but suddenly weepy with anxiety the next. It truly is “an emotional coronacoaster".

*Quarantinis*
Experimental cocktails mixed from whatever random ingredients you have left in the house. The boozy equivalent of a store cupboard supper. Southern Comfort and Ribena quarantini with a glacé cherry garnish, anyone? These are sipped at “locktail hour”, ie. wine o’clock during lockdown, which seems to be creeping earlier with each passing week.

*Le Creuset wrist*
It’s the new “avocado hand” - an aching arm after taking one’s best saucepan outside to bang during the weekly ‘Clap For Carers.’ It might be heavy but you’re keen to impress the neighbours with your high-quality kitchenware.

*Coronials*
As opposed to millennials, this refers to the future generation of babies conceived or born during coronavirus quarantine. They might also become known as “Generation C” or, more spookily, “Children of the Quarn”.

*Furlough Merlot*
Wine consumed in an attempt to relieve the frustration of not working. Also known as “bored-eaux” or “cabernet tedium”.

*Coronadose*
An overdose of bad news from consuming too much media during a time of crisis. Can result in a panicdemic.

*The elephant in the Zoom*
The glaring issue during a videoconferencing call that nobody feels able to mention. E.g. one participant has dramatically put on weight, suddenly sprouted terrible facial hair or has a worryingly messy house visible in the background.

*Quentin Quarantino*
An attention-seeker using their time in lockdown to make amateur films which they’re convinced are funnier and cleverer than they actually are.

*Covidiot*
One who ignores public health advice or behaves with reckless disregard for the safety of others can be said to display “covidiocy” or be “covidiotic”. Also called a “lockclown”

*Goutbreak*
The sudden fear that you’ve consumed so much wine, cheese, home-made cake and Easter chocolate in lockdown that your ankles are swelling up like a medieval king’s.

*Antisocial distancing*
Using health precautions as an excuse for snubbing neighbours and generally ignoring people you find irritating.

*Coughin’ dodger*
Someone so alarmed by an innocuous splutter or throat-clear that they back away in terror.

*Mask-ara*
Extra make-up applied to "make one's eyes pop" before venturing out in public wearing a face mask.

*Covid-10*
The 10lbs in weight that we’re all gaining from comfort-eating and comfort-drinking. Also known as “fattening the curve.

Pipe Dream

A musical animation from Animusic.com. What I find so clever about it is that the music was written first, then the animation created to fit around it ... what an imagination!

Click HERE to see the video. It's on YouTube, so you may have to turn on the sound (speaker icon, third from left at the bottom of the screen) and you can click on the square at bottom right to expand to full screen, then you can really see what's going on. 

Just in case you haven't smiled yet today ...

Max Boyce

Click HERE to see the video.

Now that the panic buying is over, we have to work out what to do with all those loo rolls ...

Click on the triangle in the middle of the screen to start the video, and on the square at bottom right to expand to full screen.

Pandemic panda

Enough said ...

You wouldn't want to try and limit Schwarzenegger to two rolls, would you ... ?

The Hills are Closed ...

Nessun Dorma as you've never heard it before ...

Click on the triangle in the middle of the screen to start the video, and in the square at bottom right to expand to full screen.

Quarantine through art

Identical cats

This was posted on FaceBook last month, and has gone viral ...

Cats in lockdown ...

That feeling when your dog won't let you get anything done ...

The Sun

Stonehenge ...

Trump (again ...)

Mrs Beamish

Wonderful song by Richard Stilgoe and Peter Skellern. Click HERE for the video. It's on YouTube, so if you click on the square outline at the bottom right-hand corner of the video screen, you'll get a larger image. Enjoy!

Hard times

If you're not a musician, you may not get this ... sorry!

Quatuor Beat Bumblebee

Four guys playing Rimskykorsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" on a marimba. The really awesome bit for me is towards the end where they come around to the front of the instrument, so they're actually playing it upside down ...

Click HERE to play the video. It's on YouTube, so if you click the square at the bottom right-hand corner of the video screen, you can expand the video to full screen, and really see what they're doing!

If ...

Panic buying

Books

Ok, so it looks like a perfectly ordinary bookshelf, albeit with a fairly eclectic range of reading material ... but look at the titles carefully ...

Meow ...

I just love the pained expression ...

The wisdom of Linus

Water bed ...

Could do with the tap at the other end, though, so you don't have to get out of bed ...

The challenges of being a Hindu God at times like this..

Wisdom ...

It's amazing the amount of piano practice I'm getting done at the moment ...

Salad for dinner ...

Seems like a good idea to me ...

Shopping ...

Vivaldi with a difference ...

Thanks to my cousin Cal in France for this one ... very clever!

Click on the white triangle in the middle of the screen to start the video, and the square outline at bottom right to expand to full screen (so you can really see what's going on!)

Things that go bump in the night ...

Loss of local businesses ...

It is with great sadness that we have to mention the loss of a few local businesses.  

The bra manufacturer has gone bust, the specialist in submersibles has gone under and the manufacturer of food blenders has gone into liquidation. A dog kennel has had to call in the retrievers and the suppliers of paper for origami enthusiasts has folded. The Heinz factory has been canned as they could not ketchup with orders, while the tarmac laying company has reached the end of the road and the bread company has run out of dough. The clock manufacturer has had to wind down, the Chinese has been taken away, the shoe shop has had to put his foot down and give his staff the boot and, finally, the launderette has been taken to the cleaners!

Hand sanitizing ...

Another contribution from Mary Steele ... thanks, Mary!

Paddy's last wishes ...

Thanks to John Harris for this one!

Thanks to Marion Beaumont for this one. Marion read this for last year's on-line Advent Calendar, and suggested it might be nice to see it again now.

Quietude Patience Strong

If you stand very still in the heart of a wood

You will hear many wonderful things:

The snap of a twig, the breeze in the trees,

And the whir of invisible wings.

If you stand very still in the turmoil of life

And you wait for the voice from within,

You’ll be led down quiet ways of wisdom and peace,

In a mad world of chaos and din.

If you stand very still and hold to your faith,

You will get all the help that you ask,

You will draw from the silence the things that you need:

Hope, courage, and strength for your task.

Alright for some ...

Unless you happen to like bagpipes ...

Shopping during the crisis ...

Beethoven's 5th

Clever piece of animation .... thanks to Carole Poolman for this one!

Click HERE to see the video. It's on FaceBook, so you may find the sound is turned off - click on the little speaker icon at bottom right to turn it on.

Easter eggs ..

Do it the Brahms way ...

Thanks to Alice Wakefield for this one ... brilliant! Thanks, Alice!!

Click on the white triangle in the middle of the screen to start the video.

Lucy and Snoopy

to all you loo-roll stockpilers ...

... imagine coming home to THIS!!!

A phone call for the President

Cat racing ...

The Vivaldi Guys

Can't find names for these two anywhere - they're just "The Vivaldi Guys" - but I hope we see more of them, because they are outstanding musicians. Here they are playing Vivaldi's Concerto in B minor for Four Violins ... what I want to know is:

1. How do you adapt a work for four violins so that it's playable by two oboes?
2. How on earth did they manage all that moving around without knocking their teeth out?!!!

Click HERE to play the video.

Enjoy!

Things are different abroad ...

Feed the dog ...