Alphabet soup

I did think that I might sign up for the A to Z challenge as mentioned by the #1 Nana.  I even got so far as to check out the web site or blog or whatever about it and kept that tab open for all of 24 hours while I pondered.

In case this is not something you have come across, the basic idea is to write a blog each day of April (Sundays excepted) based on the letters of the alphabet.  I had even started thinking what I could write about.  "A" would - or might - have been "aardvark" - or "apple" - or even "alphabet".  Then "B for Brighton"  (obviously), which would have led to me slagging off Blackpool, that rather extremely tacky town in Lancashire.  I went there twice.  I just couldn't believe how awful the town was so I had to go back to make sure!  No, in truth I had to go there on business - twice - but all the same, I have no wish to return.  Ever.

(That has just lost me any readers who hale from the old palatinate to the west of the Pennines.)

(Lancashire was made a county, or duchy, palatine in 1351 and kept many of its special judicial privileges until 1873. Although the Dukedom of Lancaster merged into the Crown in 1399, it is to this day held separate from other royal lands, and managed by the Duchy of Lancaster. The title of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is still used by a member of the cabinet. In Lancashire, the loyal toast is to "the Queen, Duke of Lancaster."  [Thank you, Wikipedia])

You see why I decided against that A to Z challenge thingy?  I just cannot stay on topic.  If I had started to write about aardvarks I would probably have ended describing the mating habits of penguins or some other such nonsense.  Not that I actually know anything about the mating habits of penguins, you understand.  Nor about the mating habits of aardvarks, either, come to that.  And if we really come down to the bare truth, I don't know anything at all about aardvarks.  It always sounds to me as though they should come from South America but given the double a at the start of the word, they are probably South African.

But it really doesn't matter at all - and as this is the first Saturday of the month . . .  Heck, it's also the first DAY of the month!  Where has the year gone?  here we are, February already.

And that reminds me of another thing that riles me: people pronouncing February as Feb¦YEW¦ary - especially television announcers and news readers!

TTFN