Paint all the things

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OK. Just time to squeeze a quick post in before the United game.

What a day. An absolute scorcher, and for some reason, in addition to doing all the usual, sensible jobs inside, I decided to get to painting all the bits outside that needed painting. And after that, I painted several of the inside bits that needed painting as well. Skirting boards, living room walls, bedroom walls, outside walls, gateposts, plant pots, plant troughs. If it stayed still for any length of time, it got painted.

The biggest mystery is how the beagle – which is notoriously sedentary – got away without a fresh coat of paint.

Well, that and how I’m still on my feet after 18,000 of your South African steps. If this week continues as it has been going (and how would it continue in any other way?), there’s a real chance that this will beat my 7 day record for steps. And that’s almost 130,000.

Numbers.

If it wasn’t for the match later, I’d be in bed already, but this is the last chance to enjoy evening football at a decent hour, given that the clocks go back in the UK this coming weekend, and therefore every night time game finishes at midnight.

I will still watch those games, obviously. I will just be more broken.

Crazy

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This is so good. SOOOOO good.

Step forward “Actor and Writer” James McNicholas – jmcnik on the IG – who reminds us that songs are merely words set to music. He’s done a few of these deconstructed songs as “dramatic” monologues, and they are good. But this one is the best.

You might recognise the original as being Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. A worldwide hit in 2006.
Allow me to jog your memory.

But lob on some fake sideburns and a Victorian shirt and waistcoat, be the weird scientist (who experimented upon himself?), and add some pauses and some incredible eye contact, and you have something moving, compelling, intriguing and almost spellbinding.

There’s Jekyll and Hyde, there’s Jules Verne, there’s H.G. Wells and more in there.

As a monologue and a performance, it couldn’t be further from the original, but it still stands.
Amazing stuff.

Also check out his MmmBop, which is actually (lyrically) a damn fine song.

Where is Yeniköy?

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It’s everywhere.

Here’s a map of the most popular places names for countries across Europe:

And it makes for some interesting* reading.

In the UK, it’s Sutton. Sutton means “One from the Southern Homestead”, and aside from the main Sutton just south of London, there are 12 others. But a total of 13 is nothing.

Numbers
43 Steinbachs in Germany.
97 Ivanivkas in Ukraine.
101 Oktyabrsklys in Russia (it means October).
And an incredible 155 Yeniköys in Turkiye.
Good luck with finding the right one on Google Maps. Or indeed, any map.

New Villages
Yeniköy translates as “New Village”, and a quick scoot across Eastern Europe will reveal that everything there seems to be a “New Village”. It’s the most popular place name in 8 other countries as well as Turkiye:
Novo Selo (HR), Satu Nou (RO), Nova Ves (CZ), Nowa Vies (PL), Nova Selo (BiH), Nova Selle (RKS), Novo Selo (SRB) and Neo Chori (GR)

Honourable mentions:
– 5 Castletowns in Ireland (1 in the Isle of Man, too). Literally a town with a castle in each case. No imagination whatsoever.
– 2 places called Nes in the Faroe Islands. They’re about as big as a postage stamp! How do you manage to get 2 places with the same name somewhere that small? Why risk any confusion? It’s no wonder there are so many missed dates there:

She said she’d meet me in the pub in Nes at 7pm.
But she never turned up.

– Loads of mountain-based stuff: 3 Monts in Belgium, 4 Bergs in Sweden, 3 Szolohegys in Hungary.
– 8 Nogueiras in Portugal. All in the far north, because it means “Walnut Tree” and that’s where the walnut trees grow. AND… Orahovo (x3) is the most popular place name in Montenegro. It also means “Walnut Tree” and check out the latitudes of those two places.

You couldn’t make it up. And I didn’t.
– Loads of Saints in Spain, France, Cyprus and Italy. Catholics, ne?
– 3 Erpeldanges in Luxembourg. No idea what it means, but it’s a lovely word, almost certainly made up by Roald Dahl.

I’m now ready for whenever this info comes up in a quiz, but sadly, I also have this very strange feeling that it almost certainly won’t.

* T&Cs apply

Away this weekend

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Actually, all being well, we’ll have been away for 24 hours already, but thanks to the magic of WordPress, you might not even notice. A quick pre-write of posts for yesterday, today and tomorrow has already happened (or, obviously, “is happening” in the case of this one), and so you should probably head over towards

my Instagram

to see if I have shared anything particularly amazing from a well-deserved (her, not me) weekend away for Mrs 6000 and me.

See you Monday (live) and tomorrow at 8am (pre-recorded).

Much love.
Me.x