Northern England; that last bastion of Communism...

Hello and welcome to Half-way Day!

Once again, we will be revisiting that weekend that was only a couple of days ago in reality but is already apparently a distant memory... Well, a distant memory to most, but we have a few reminders of a great little weekend, courtesy of Julie, Dad and a game or two of Trivial Pursuit. Julie isn't involved this time, it's just me, Dad and Nadia Comaneci. Stop it! It's nothing like that at all - in fact, I had to Google the name, just to make sure I had the right person in mind when I was typing this out. I'll tell you what; I know I had this mental image of her as a successful Olympic gymnast, but blimey - that's LOT of gold medals... (take a look at the Wiki page to see for yourself). Actually, some of the stuff Nadia has done more recently is more impressive to me, especially the charity work regarding muscular dystrophy.
Anyway. We're not interested in any of that are we? Of course not; all you lot care about is how such a talented woman fits in with me and my father... Hmm... I could have phrased that better, couldn't I? Oh well, the best thing to do is just jump right in with the Gem and see how we progress from there. I'll ask the question, shall I?

My reply to this was, "No, it wa.. wait, what??"
Obviously, Ms Comaneci was born in Romania. Well, I say 'obviously', but Dad seemed to have been a little confused. Or perhaps he was just being a little silly.

(by the way, I phrased the question as I did because the questions were printed in 1985 and I wasn't sure if Ms Comaneci had passed away since then.)

I always thought he looked a bit thin

Julie is, now and then, quite baffling. 

Then again, there are occasions where she's razor-sharp and more pointed than a sharpened pin. If nothing else, the previous post will have proved that more than adequately.

When we play Trivial Pursuit, there is a rough split of 60:40 in favour of 'baffling' over 'zinger' However, it does have to be admitted that the alleged zingers here are a result of Julie not knowing the answer and opting for a pithy put-down. The balance between the two states is fairly well established, but it's a fragile state; with the addition of some wine the ratio of 'baffling' to 'zinger' rockets to a heady 95:5.

Obviously, things are never as clear-cut as the figures I'm guesstimating make out. Many things can conspire to alter the state of play and the biggest such factor is sheer, bloody-minded chance. I mean, when you're playing a quiz game, wine has been imbibed and Julie is asked a question in a topic with which she is unfamiliar, you're going to be expecting something along the lines of 'baffling'. Or, at the very least, utterly incomprehensible. What you DON'T expect is an answer that melds all that is best in both 'zinger' and baffling'.

Seriously, I was expecting Julie's answer to have been rather rude, crude and definitely unfit for reproduction in this blog.

Trivial Pursuit Week II: Anachronistic cheats in ancient Greece

Every now and then, Julie will come out with a Gem that goes that extra mile. You'll be there thinking that's it - she can't get any worse now... when all of a sudden, BAM! It does. Usually, when she does this, it's the beginning of a ramble, one I have no way of writing down (I must look into shorthand), unless I'm very lucky.
On rare occasions, Julie will stop after the second blow - sorry, Gem - but that may have something to do with the fact she's seen my reaction and she's forced to mentally review what she's just come out with.
It's normally a few minutes before my wife can stop giggling.

For the final one of this week's Trivial Pursuit-themed Gems, we head back to ancient Greece. Be warned - there is a double whammy ahead, so please do not be drinking or eating when you read it.
I'm serious. That stuff's murder to get out from between the cracks in your keyboard...

Oh. My. Gods.
I warned you, didn't I? Now look at the state of that monitor...
(by the way, just in case you don't know what space hoppers were/are....)

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OK folks, another reminder for the free book draw - you still have just over a week to get your name in the hat.

Also, I'm always happy to publish Gems by other people. Come on, I know there have been times when we've all slipped up, or you've been privy to some baffling incident involving a drunken party. Why not drop us a line and tell us all about it - or them.

The email address for both the free draw and Gem submissions is juliesgemsuk@hotmail.co.uk

OK then - tata, have a good weekend and see you all next week!