HossC

That brings us to yesterday and the Brazilian Grand Prix from Interlagos. For many years, this was the last race of the season, but money has now taken that to the Middle East. It's also one of my favorite tracks, and didn't disappoint this year. For the third time this year, the starting grid was determined by a sprint race. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen took a surprise pole for that, but could only finish eighth. It was the resurgent Mercedes team that took first and third, split only by Carlos Sainz Jr who had a 5-place grid penalty in the race for taking a new engine. In the main race, Daniel Ricciardo clipped Kevin Magnussen on the first lap, and the resulting crash ended both of thir races and brought out the safety car. A couple of corners into the restart, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen came together, leading to front wing damage and a 5-second penalty for Verstappen. Red Bull managed to change his tires and front wing in 10.0 seconds. Hamilton fought back up the field to finish second, but yesterday belonged to George Russell who took his first F1 victory and fastest lap. Sergio Perez, under team orders, let Max Verstappen by near the end to try and take the cars in front. When that didn't happen, Verstappen then refused to let Perez back past leaving Perez tied with Charles Leclerc for second in the championship with only one race left. With no Brazilian drivers in the field, the local crowd seem to have adopted the Mercedes team and particularly Lewis Hamilton as their favorites, so the one-two finish was very popular. The race highlights are here. Next week is the season finale from Abu Dhabi.

A week later, F1 moved to Mexico. Even at altitude, it proved to be another easy win for Max Verstappen. In taking victory, he also set the record for the most wins in a season with 14 (out of 20 at that time), although there are more races than there used to be. Mercedes kept up their newly re-found form with Lewis Hamilton finishing second again (albeit 15 seconds behind Verstappen) and George Russell in fourth. They were separated by Verstappen's team mate, Sergio Perez. Highlights of the Mexican race are here.

I haven't posted summaries of the last F1 races, partly because the Drivers' Championship has already been decided, and partly because the races have been in the Americas, so I've gone straight to bed when they finished due to the time difference. So here I make amends. First, the US Grand Prix from Austin on October 23rd. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr took pole position, but Max Verstappen beat him away from the line, and then he got spun by George Russell at the first corner. This ultimately led to retirement for Sainz and a time penalty for Russell. Fernando Alonso got his car airborne after clipping Lance Stroll, but miraculously changed his front wing and battled back to finish seventh. Mercedes finally appeared to have a competitive car, but it wasn't quite a match for Verstappen's Red Bull. Up and down the field there were some good cat and mouse battles. In the end, Max Verstappen won to cement the Constructors' Championship for Red Bull. It was an emotional weekend for Red Bull as Dietrich Mateschitz, co-founder of the drinks company and driving force behind the F1 team, died the day before the race. Lewis Hamilton claimed second place and Charles Leclerc recovered to finish third. You can catch up on the race highlights here.

pie

Enos, the oldest VIRGIN in Hazzard County

TROUBLE at Cooter's

Snoopy

corner (Sorry, reminded me of an REM lyric)

Melinda NAUD played Alabama Jones

JACK and the Beanstalk (Read to Rosco by his mama to get him to sleep at night)

kid

Tri-County HOSPITAL Can people please put the word they're playing in capitals - it makes it a lot easier to see what letter we're on. I've been editing the recent posts as I see them.

I was born and raised in Southern England, and now live in Southern Ireland, but somehow I don't think I can claim that that's the same thing.

It looks good. It reminds me of the special edition 1:18 diecast cars that were made in black but had all the regular decals.

The advantage of designing in vectors is that the designs can be blown up to whatever size you like without any loss of quality. The industry standard vector editing software is Adobe Illustrator. I've tried it once or twice many years ago, but never got on with it. My designs were done in CorelDraw, which can normally be picked up at a good price (maybe for the previous version). If you're looking for free software, TechRadar published a recent list here. The only one I've tried is Inkscape, and that's probably changed a bit from when I last used it.

DR. DEBBIE DAVIS

BIG Daddy

Nothing wrong with that. I still pay for 99% of purchases with cash. When they mentioned "the 'C' word" on the radio here the other day they were referring to Christmas.

Next time you go to a big city, search out an Indian restaurant. Young men over here often compete with one another by choosing the hottest dish on the menu (usually after a trip to the pub), but there are many cooler, but still well spiced dishes available. You'll get to accompany the main dish with a variety of side dishes, naans (breads), poppadoms and a selection of chutneys, dips and raitas. Desserts tend to be something simple like Kulfi ice cream. You can make the meringues at home - the most basic recipe only requires egg whites and sugar (and possibly a dash of vanilla extract).

The SECRET SATELLITE (While we're on the cartoon series)

I'm not sure why this only just showed up on MSN - he died on July 13th.

I thought I'd covered the cultural differences with "potato chips". Chutney is a spicy or savory condiment originating in India. Chutney is made from fruits, vegetables, and/or herbs with vinegar, sugar, and spices. It’s used to provide balance to an array of dishes, or highlight a specific flavor profile. Broadly, the word chutney is now applied to anything preserved in sugar and vinegar, regardless of its texture, ingredients, or consistency. Apparently, Major Grey's Chutney is a type of sweet and spicy chutney popular in the United States. Curry in Western usage is a dish composed with a sauce or gravy seasoned with a mixture of ground spices that is thought to have originated in India and has since spread to many regions of the world. The foundation of many Indian curries is a mixture of onion, ginger, and garlic. In the UK and Ireland, Indian restaurants and takeaways are very popular. There are several types of meringue, but the most basic is egg white mixed with sugar which is then beaten until it's light and fluffy before being baked. It can be a topping on dishes like lemon meringue pie or the base of dishes such as pavlova. The ones found in bakeries are hard on the outside, but may contain a slightly chewy center, and can include chocolate or buttercream decoration.

What a shame that you're both still suffering, Roger. We have a bank holiday here tomorrow which coincides with Halloween this year. I don't do anything to celebrate it, but a few of my friends were discussing getting costumes together for their children today. We've had a 2-day food festival in town this weekend. There were all sorts of street foods from around the world, a large selection of jams and chutneys, cookery demonstrations and various other attractions which included Latvian folk dancing. I had some very nice, freshly made crisps (potato chips) and a huge meringue yesterday, and a curry followed by mini donuts today. I've also got some raw honeycomb and carrot cake marmalade to eat over the next few days.

Check out the Gateway Clipper website: https://www.gatewayclipper.com/ A basic 1-hour sightseeing cruise is $30, you can get luncheon on a 2-hour cruise for $47 upwards, while dinner cruises start at $52 and go up to $100 depending on the date, the food and the entertainment that's included. If you've got 39 friends, you can charter a boat for 2 hours for $1,000. Skipper, beware of the "New Year’s Eve Hors D’Ouevres Dance Cruise & Tour" - it appears to be a 3-hour tour.

I've just seen that controversial singer Jerry Lee Lewis has died at the age of 87. He was described as "One of the last survivors of rock 'n' roll's golden age". At 22, Jerry Lee Lewis famously married his 13-year-old cousin. Obviously that never happened with our favorite cousins, but in 'One Armed Bandits' Bo did tell Daisy, "If we weren't cousins, I'd marry you.", to which Daisy replied, "That's never stopped anyone in this family before." Jerry Lee Lewis - Breathless