I am a big fan of QI, a trivia quiz show on BBC presented by Stephen Fry. In fact, I am a big fan of trivia in general; useless knowledge is important to me for reasons I could not possibly explain, as I do not understand them, but knowing that (for example) submarines are classed as boats and not ships because they have no through decks gives me immense and inexplicable satisfaction.
QI is invaluable to me as a worthy source of new trivia, and I feel the need to share with my reader two amazing factoids that surfaced during last night's episode, which I recorded and have just now watched. The first of these concerns carbon footprints, those banes of the dinner-party attending classes, the wonderful truth being that the carbon footprint of owning an average size dog is greater than that of owning two Toyota Landcruisers. Depending on your viewpoint this is either disastrous or wonderful news. It was stated that even owning a cat is equivalent in that regard to owning a VW Golf, and I own two (cats, not VW Golfs. Or is it Golves...). This will hopefully go some way towards deflating my sense of moral superiority and general irritating smugness among road users as I cycle along. Before you all condemn my profligrate lifestyle and justify your own, however, it is worth mentioning that the carbon footprint of even a large dog such as an alsatian is considerably less than that of a child. Therefore it is morally more acceptable to own two Toyota Landcruisers than to create a human life.
The second of these delightful gems is the fact that the ownership of slaves in the UK was not made illegal until April this year, 2010. Everything else about slavery, buying or selling them, transporting them, capturing them for the purpose of enslaving them, has been made illegal in the UK during the first half of the 19th century, but the legislation never addressed the issue of owning slaves. This part of the programme included the disturbing fact that, according to the UN, 17 million people are nowadays living in slavery, sex slavery, or work bondage worldwide, a figure higher than at any time in history. That isn't trivia, just something that every human being on the planet should be ashamed of.
Saturday 13 November 2010
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Democracy and how it could be improved
Before you all start reading this, can I just remind everybody that views I express are my own opinions, and that I don't give a toss about yours. Furthermore, I am human (or so it is alleged) and reserve the right to be wrong, stupid, opinionated, ill-informed, etc. I mention all this because the subject of this rant is political, and politics is not known as a subject which encourages people to agree with each other, or even to agree to disagree, or even to disagree in any civilised manner.
Mid term elections in the USA at the minute, and they are making an even bigger meal of it than usual. The 'new kid on the block' wild card which has attracted the media's attention is the 'Tea Party', a right-wing movement to 'restore' the original core values of immediate post-revolution America, or at least modern Americans' understanding of them. My own view is that the 'Tea Party' is a bit of a flash in the pan which has tapped into mainstream American dissatisfaction with the current economic crisis they are suffering. Its expressions are demagogueish and populist and it will be unable to make any constructive contribution to whatever debate and policy making will be needed to deal with the issues; but it makes excellent tv and great spectator sport.
At the core of its misinformed concept, though, are the noble ideals of the Founding Fathers, expressed in the magnificent rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence, one of the most influential documents of Western Civilisations' History. These Founding Fathers were amongst the leading thinkers of the Enlightenmnet, and one of them, Benjamin Franklin, was a straight up, out and out, honest to god genius; men to take notice of even over 200 years later! The constitution they crafted was a clever and far-sighted device which included some very intelligent checks and balances to prevent any future dilution of thier intentions, and by and large these have worked (remember Nixon?), but even the Founding Fathers could not have forseen the racism, corporate power, crime, drug culture, and religious intolerance that plague modern US society. Well, arguably, they could and should have forseen the racism and religious fundamentalism, and perhaps should have realised that a federal state would be unable to deal effectively with organised crime, and that the federal organisations that would have to be created to attempt the task would inevitably descend into paranoia, secrecy, and a very undemocratic unaccountablility.
Stripped of the enlightend ideals, the American Revolution was actually based on something even more quintisentially American than even free enterprise democracy; a deal. The deal was between the leaders, Washington, Jefferson, Frankin etc, who proposed to the ordinary folk that, in return for their renouncing allegience to King George and fighting the War of Independence to a victorious conclusion, they would all get a vote. That was in itself a pretty astonishing idea at the time; possibly even more astonishing was the fact that the leaders honoured thier part of the bargain. One man, one vote was as good as it got in the 18th century, and modern comments that women and slaves were not included may not take this fully into account.
This blog is at last getting to some sort of point, honest. Our modern conception of what democracy should be like is still heavily influenced by those events. In the UK, most people if asked would state that they live in a Parliamentary Democracy with a Constitutional Monarch at its head, but our 'democracy' does not stand up for a second against the US one. Apart from the unelected Upper House, Britons have no constitutional right to own land except by permission of the Crown, to which thier elected representative have to swear allegience, all of us who think we own our homes pay ground rent, nor do we have any rights to any mineral wealth beneath them-I could go on. To most people throughout the world, the American system is the image had of the best possible Democracy. But is it in fact the best possible democracy?
Modern technology should be able to allow the voting procedure to do far more than the traditional cross against a name. It is my view that, in anything describing itself as a democratic system, voting would be compulsory, but that it would also be possible to have the choice to vote against candidates, or to register an abstention; in fact, if voting were compulsory, such choices would be essential! Now this would make politics much more fun as a spectator sport, as well as providing a much more accurate picture of the Will of the People. It would be possible for a party to attain power and form a government, without being to falsely claim, as most do now, that they have a 'mandate from the electorate' when maybe 20% or so have actually voted for them. In fact, you could even have a government that had attained power from the idea that they were simply the least objectionable to the electorate, the least of evils, which would possibly do something to quell the arrogance and self-assertion of modern politcians, and remind them who is supposed to really be in charge. It might even put the people who are supposed to be in charge-us-actually in charge! Now there's a really revolutionary idea....
Mid term elections in the USA at the minute, and they are making an even bigger meal of it than usual. The 'new kid on the block' wild card which has attracted the media's attention is the 'Tea Party', a right-wing movement to 'restore' the original core values of immediate post-revolution America, or at least modern Americans' understanding of them. My own view is that the 'Tea Party' is a bit of a flash in the pan which has tapped into mainstream American dissatisfaction with the current economic crisis they are suffering. Its expressions are demagogueish and populist and it will be unable to make any constructive contribution to whatever debate and policy making will be needed to deal with the issues; but it makes excellent tv and great spectator sport.
At the core of its misinformed concept, though, are the noble ideals of the Founding Fathers, expressed in the magnificent rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence, one of the most influential documents of Western Civilisations' History. These Founding Fathers were amongst the leading thinkers of the Enlightenmnet, and one of them, Benjamin Franklin, was a straight up, out and out, honest to god genius; men to take notice of even over 200 years later! The constitution they crafted was a clever and far-sighted device which included some very intelligent checks and balances to prevent any future dilution of thier intentions, and by and large these have worked (remember Nixon?), but even the Founding Fathers could not have forseen the racism, corporate power, crime, drug culture, and religious intolerance that plague modern US society. Well, arguably, they could and should have forseen the racism and religious fundamentalism, and perhaps should have realised that a federal state would be unable to deal effectively with organised crime, and that the federal organisations that would have to be created to attempt the task would inevitably descend into paranoia, secrecy, and a very undemocratic unaccountablility.
Stripped of the enlightend ideals, the American Revolution was actually based on something even more quintisentially American than even free enterprise democracy; a deal. The deal was between the leaders, Washington, Jefferson, Frankin etc, who proposed to the ordinary folk that, in return for their renouncing allegience to King George and fighting the War of Independence to a victorious conclusion, they would all get a vote. That was in itself a pretty astonishing idea at the time; possibly even more astonishing was the fact that the leaders honoured thier part of the bargain. One man, one vote was as good as it got in the 18th century, and modern comments that women and slaves were not included may not take this fully into account.
This blog is at last getting to some sort of point, honest. Our modern conception of what democracy should be like is still heavily influenced by those events. In the UK, most people if asked would state that they live in a Parliamentary Democracy with a Constitutional Monarch at its head, but our 'democracy' does not stand up for a second against the US one. Apart from the unelected Upper House, Britons have no constitutional right to own land except by permission of the Crown, to which thier elected representative have to swear allegience, all of us who think we own our homes pay ground rent, nor do we have any rights to any mineral wealth beneath them-I could go on. To most people throughout the world, the American system is the image had of the best possible Democracy. But is it in fact the best possible democracy?
Modern technology should be able to allow the voting procedure to do far more than the traditional cross against a name. It is my view that, in anything describing itself as a democratic system, voting would be compulsory, but that it would also be possible to have the choice to vote against candidates, or to register an abstention; in fact, if voting were compulsory, such choices would be essential! Now this would make politics much more fun as a spectator sport, as well as providing a much more accurate picture of the Will of the People. It would be possible for a party to attain power and form a government, without being to falsely claim, as most do now, that they have a 'mandate from the electorate' when maybe 20% or so have actually voted for them. In fact, you could even have a government that had attained power from the idea that they were simply the least objectionable to the electorate, the least of evils, which would possibly do something to quell the arrogance and self-assertion of modern politcians, and remind them who is supposed to really be in charge. It might even put the people who are supposed to be in charge-us-actually in charge! Now there's a really revolutionary idea....
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Summer Time, and the livin' is easy.....
... Fish are jumpin', and so on. In the UK, we have a daylight saving 'British Summer Time' period which lasts from the last Sunday in March to the last one in October, so that the clocks are put forward by an hour in spring and and back by an hour in Autumn. This is a device dreamed up during the First World War in 1916 to increase weapons production, and extended by a double hour during the Second World War for the same reason. Historically, prior to that, 'Greenwich Time' was standard throughout the UK except for Ireland, where a 'Dublin Standard Time', 23 minutes later and astronomically correct for Dublin, was used-this was abolished with the 1916 legislation. Prior to that, the Greenwich Time had been adopted when the builing of railways required a standard national time for timetabling and signalling purposes. Before that, every parish set it's own church or town square clock to midday when the sun was due south, so time varied according to how far east or west of the Greenwich Meridian you were, though places due north or south of each other showed the same times, assuming thier astromomcal observations were correct and their timepieces accurate. I live in Cardiff, where the correct astronomical time is 13 minutes behind Greenwich. In some parts of South Wales, local time is set at 1980.
Between 1968 and 1971, BST time was used experimentally all year to end the confusion caused by the spring and autumn changes, but eventually abandoned due to worries over schoolchildrens' safety in the dark mornings, the sky not starting to get light until nearly 10 am in the north of the country. Ever since, there have been attempts to re-introduce this 'permanent summer' and another is in the parliamentary pipeline now.
Personally, I would like to see the re-introduction of GMT year round (actually, I favour the re-introduction of astronomical time so that it would be easier to use an analogue watch as a compass, but I don't think that is likely), but I do think that there is a case for arguing that the time adopted is irrelevant, just so long as it is the same all year.
Despite being a devout atheist of many years standing, there is something about all this that smacks of humans interfering with god's sublime creation, and we all know where that leads, don't we, children, remember Dr. Frankenstien! (Devon yokel accent) B'aint natrull, oi tells ee. Trouble'll come of it...
This is one of those issues where I find myself in a minortiy of one, like the use of the death penalty for people who park illegally (their car would be crushed on the first offence, and crushed with them in it on the second, no excuses, no trial, no appeal just summary execution). Ok nurse, I'll take the nice medication now...
Between 1968 and 1971, BST time was used experimentally all year to end the confusion caused by the spring and autumn changes, but eventually abandoned due to worries over schoolchildrens' safety in the dark mornings, the sky not starting to get light until nearly 10 am in the north of the country. Ever since, there have been attempts to re-introduce this 'permanent summer' and another is in the parliamentary pipeline now.
Personally, I would like to see the re-introduction of GMT year round (actually, I favour the re-introduction of astronomical time so that it would be easier to use an analogue watch as a compass, but I don't think that is likely), but I do think that there is a case for arguing that the time adopted is irrelevant, just so long as it is the same all year.
Despite being a devout atheist of many years standing, there is something about all this that smacks of humans interfering with god's sublime creation, and we all know where that leads, don't we, children, remember Dr. Frankenstien! (Devon yokel accent) B'aint natrull, oi tells ee. Trouble'll come of it...
This is one of those issues where I find myself in a minortiy of one, like the use of the death penalty for people who park illegally (their car would be crushed on the first offence, and crushed with them in it on the second, no excuses, no trial, no appeal just summary execution). Ok nurse, I'll take the nice medication now...
Saturday 23 October 2010
Senile Delinquency
I have just got back from a trip to my local shops (oh, yeah, life on the edge, that's me, no fear....) where an old guy tried to push in front of me in the queue for the till. He didn't get away with it, because I saw him coming and strategically positioned myself to block his gambit.
So he got in behind me, muttered a few things under his breath for 30 seconds or so, and strared hitting me, punching me in the small of the back. I turned round and asked him to stop, and he offered me outside!!! He must've been into his 80s, and appeared to be sober, or at least I couldn't smell booze on hime. I suggested, without being abusive, that he might want to consider the possible consequences of this, calm down and behave himself, and leave me alone, and he promptly stated that he wasn't afreid of me and repeated his offer.
I further suggested that he was a silly old sod and again asked him to leave me alone, which fortunately he did this time , though contineing to mutter under his breath in a way that suggested he was not being entirely complimentary to me, my parentage, or anything else to do with me.
Had the situation developed, I would, I confess, have been at a loss as to how to deal with it. On the one hand nobody wants to start knocking pensioners around, on the other I was being physically assaulted. Bad enough that I had to infer a threat of violence to dissuade the bugger; if he'd persisted would I have been right to back the threat up with actual argy-bargy, or should I have let the bloke hit me without response. I suppose if push had come to shove, I'd have had to defend myself, but I was seriously glad that there would have been plenty of bystanders to have witnessed what had led to my aciton. I hope I would have avoided physical abuse, but, as I say, I will not allow violence perpetrated no me to go unchallenged. I do not go around punching other people and consider myself justified in demanding that they do not do so to me.
I con't believe i'd have hit the poor old sod, but I may well have resorted to pushing hime away in order to prevent his hitting me! Suppose he'd been pushed over and actually injured himself. Cue assault charges and court case against me for something someone else caused.
I really must try and get rid of the big neon sign saying 'victim' which apparently floats about 2 feet above my head at all times, as I have an unfortunate habit of attracting this sort of behaviour, in the same way that the nutter on the bus always goes out of his way to set by me. I am fed up with the way the world treats me . Just you all wait till I get my AK47....
So he got in behind me, muttered a few things under his breath for 30 seconds or so, and strared hitting me, punching me in the small of the back. I turned round and asked him to stop, and he offered me outside!!! He must've been into his 80s, and appeared to be sober, or at least I couldn't smell booze on hime. I suggested, without being abusive, that he might want to consider the possible consequences of this, calm down and behave himself, and leave me alone, and he promptly stated that he wasn't afreid of me and repeated his offer.
I further suggested that he was a silly old sod and again asked him to leave me alone, which fortunately he did this time , though contineing to mutter under his breath in a way that suggested he was not being entirely complimentary to me, my parentage, or anything else to do with me.
Had the situation developed, I would, I confess, have been at a loss as to how to deal with it. On the one hand nobody wants to start knocking pensioners around, on the other I was being physically assaulted. Bad enough that I had to infer a threat of violence to dissuade the bugger; if he'd persisted would I have been right to back the threat up with actual argy-bargy, or should I have let the bloke hit me without response. I suppose if push had come to shove, I'd have had to defend myself, but I was seriously glad that there would have been plenty of bystanders to have witnessed what had led to my aciton. I hope I would have avoided physical abuse, but, as I say, I will not allow violence perpetrated no me to go unchallenged. I do not go around punching other people and consider myself justified in demanding that they do not do so to me.
I con't believe i'd have hit the poor old sod, but I may well have resorted to pushing hime away in order to prevent his hitting me! Suppose he'd been pushed over and actually injured himself. Cue assault charges and court case against me for something someone else caused.
I really must try and get rid of the big neon sign saying 'victim' which apparently floats about 2 feet above my head at all times, as I have an unfortunate habit of attracting this sort of behaviour, in the same way that the nutter on the bus always goes out of his way to set by me. I am fed up with the way the world treats me . Just you all wait till I get my AK47....
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Well done Chile!
Lovely to have some good news for a change, and the success of the rescue of the Chilean miners after 10 weeks is a real cheeruper! Chile is not a 3rd world country, but at the same time not the sort of place you'd call at the cutting edge of technology. Nonetheless, they have put on a magnificent rescue effort, and a tremenduous example of what humans can do when they put thier minds to it; and they have been rewarded with success.
The little capsule, 'Fenix', is the real life version of Thunderbirds' 'mole', but in actuality little more than a tin can whose success (fingers crossed as the rescue is proceeding as I type) depends on the straightness and smoothness of a remarkably small shaft, drilled at an angle with amazing precision over a considerable distance. The thing is winched up and down on a steel cable-no high tech here, but it works1 I cannot help but smile as miner after miner emerges and is swamped by hugs from his delighted family. The media are making a meal of it, of course, and Chile's president is making political capital out of it, but not too much so in all fairness, and who in fairness can blame them. This is one of those few news stories that anyone anywhere can take nothing but pleasure in-just plain heartwarming.
And I've needed it, as the darker side of humanity has been intruding into my poor little existence. I've managed in the space of one week to lose a bicycle and a mobile phone to thieving wastes of skin. Not a good week! I will resist the temptation to have a rant about the state of society, the morality of the sort of people who thieve off others. Bikes and phones, even annoyingly uninsured ones, are only things, which can be replaced when the money eventually allows it-Chilean miners are people, and much more important. Kudos to those who didn't give up on them in the bleak early days when it would have been easy enough to simply assume there were no survivors.
The little capsule, 'Fenix', is the real life version of Thunderbirds' 'mole', but in actuality little more than a tin can whose success (fingers crossed as the rescue is proceeding as I type) depends on the straightness and smoothness of a remarkably small shaft, drilled at an angle with amazing precision over a considerable distance. The thing is winched up and down on a steel cable-no high tech here, but it works1 I cannot help but smile as miner after miner emerges and is swamped by hugs from his delighted family. The media are making a meal of it, of course, and Chile's president is making political capital out of it, but not too much so in all fairness, and who in fairness can blame them. This is one of those few news stories that anyone anywhere can take nothing but pleasure in-just plain heartwarming.
And I've needed it, as the darker side of humanity has been intruding into my poor little existence. I've managed in the space of one week to lose a bicycle and a mobile phone to thieving wastes of skin. Not a good week! I will resist the temptation to have a rant about the state of society, the morality of the sort of people who thieve off others. Bikes and phones, even annoyingly uninsured ones, are only things, which can be replaced when the money eventually allows it-Chilean miners are people, and much more important. Kudos to those who didn't give up on them in the bleak early days when it would have been easy enough to simply assume there were no survivors.
Thursday 22 July 2010
Leave it be, John-it's not worth the bother!
Do you remember when you were a kid and there were those little puzzles that were a sqare tray with tablets numbered 1-8 and only nine spaces? You had to re-organise the jumbled numbers into order which was hard because there was only one space to move into and you had to plan. Well, keep that in mind for a few minutes-you'll see why.
I think I may have mentioned before that I keep fishes. Things to avoid when you keep fishes include 1) Moving the tank around if you can avoid it. The tank, without water in, is 3' and monstrously heavy; taking the fishes out, keeping the mature water and so on is a logistical nightmeare, And 2) Putting the tank anywhere it'll get to much light, especially direct sunlight. Too much light means algae, which consume oxygen which your fishes need, harbour pollutants, looks unpleasant, and is a bugger to clean.
You will be starting to see what is coming by now. Also the weight of the whole setup was starting to deform the very strudy coffee table it was sitting on, so something had to be done. Thing is, my living room is a bit like the sqare puzzles-everything hsa to move before anything else moves, plus there are places some things can't go because they will be away from sockets, blocking fire alarm buttons and so on. But the tank had to move nonetheless, and, with the help of a burly friend, this happend yesterday without too much disturbance or problem being caused to the fishes.
However, disconnecting all the leads for lighting, computer, hi-fi and such and moving all the other furniture round to open the space for the tank in it's new place, and the cabinet it now sits which is the only furniture I have strong enough was 3 hours work before the old coffee table was gently slid across the room and the half empty aquarium was gently lifted into position. That was fairly close to the physical limit of what I am capable of, and it is as well it went up and in first time! Today, my back is a bit tender.
Now, 24 hours later, I have still not finished wiring everything back up, and there is a pile in the middle of the floor of USB hubs, cables and power supplies which can only matched to thier devices by trial and error. It is sorting itself out slowly, but at the moment I am starting to wish I hadn't bothered!
There are collateral advantages, though. My new sofa position allows me to look out on to the patio, and the monitor, through which I also view tv, faces away from the window so there are now no reflections on the screen-and I don't have to look at the kitchen all the time...
I think I may have mentioned before that I keep fishes. Things to avoid when you keep fishes include 1) Moving the tank around if you can avoid it. The tank, without water in, is 3' and monstrously heavy; taking the fishes out, keeping the mature water and so on is a logistical nightmeare, And 2) Putting the tank anywhere it'll get to much light, especially direct sunlight. Too much light means algae, which consume oxygen which your fishes need, harbour pollutants, looks unpleasant, and is a bugger to clean.
You will be starting to see what is coming by now. Also the weight of the whole setup was starting to deform the very strudy coffee table it was sitting on, so something had to be done. Thing is, my living room is a bit like the sqare puzzles-everything hsa to move before anything else moves, plus there are places some things can't go because they will be away from sockets, blocking fire alarm buttons and so on. But the tank had to move nonetheless, and, with the help of a burly friend, this happend yesterday without too much disturbance or problem being caused to the fishes.
However, disconnecting all the leads for lighting, computer, hi-fi and such and moving all the other furniture round to open the space for the tank in it's new place, and the cabinet it now sits which is the only furniture I have strong enough was 3 hours work before the old coffee table was gently slid across the room and the half empty aquarium was gently lifted into position. That was fairly close to the physical limit of what I am capable of, and it is as well it went up and in first time! Today, my back is a bit tender.
Now, 24 hours later, I have still not finished wiring everything back up, and there is a pile in the middle of the floor of USB hubs, cables and power supplies which can only matched to thier devices by trial and error. It is sorting itself out slowly, but at the moment I am starting to wish I hadn't bothered!
There are collateral advantages, though. My new sofa position allows me to look out on to the patio, and the monitor, through which I also view tv, faces away from the window so there are now no reflections on the screen-and I don't have to look at the kitchen all the time...
Sunday 11 July 2010
The screen goes green, and I want to SCREAM!!!
Can't work up any enthusiasm at all for the World Cup Football Final tonight. I'm no footy fan to start with, but I can usually bring myself to watch 1 game every 4 years. This time I just lost interest when Brasil were knocked out (and they deserved it-they were crap), and out of Spain or Holland, the truth is, I just don't care. And to enjoy a game properly you must have at least a slight preference. Still, at least England disgraced themselves as usual, to the unadulterad joy of all Welsh, Scottish and Irish folk....
So, this gives me a brilliant opportunity to go out for either a walk or a bike ride this evening. The weather is good, and if I go over the park, or town, after 7.30, I'll have the place to myself, give or take the odd ball of tumbleweed. Magic! No squawking brats, squeaky snappy little dogs, kids on skateboards, people pushing prams who don't look where they're going, blokes who only have dogs or children so they can have something to shout at, and all the other things that conspire to make my life less fun than it should be. And empty roads to cycle on.
I am growing, or to be more truthful have grown, into a gloriously miserable old git. Almost anything that other people enjoy pisses me off, and no one else likes the things I do, so everyone thinks I am just a bit wierd (this statement of course excludes those who know me. They already know I'm wierd). My tolerance of people at large and their irritating lives is worn thin, and I don't know if this is a part of getting older or just me being ornery (lovely word from my childhood watching 'B' movie westerns. There was critters and varmints, then there was ornery critters and ornery varmints, which were worse) which I always was a bit. Everyone needs a hobby and being a misserable old git is mine, and as long as you lot persist in having brats, dogs, noisy lifestyles, ridiculous 4x4 cars and kids who cannot listen to an music track from beginning to end without switching to another one (this sends me inexplicalbly into a frothing rage), I will defend my right to my hobby.
If any aspect of the World Cup has really put my back up though, it is the unrelenting, unavoidable, all-present marketing. This is as bad as Xmas. Products which have no connection with soccer at all cannot be allowed into the shops without a little football logo on them somewhere. I sort of understand why TV manufacturers jump on the bandwagon (although I wish they wouldn't), but what have crisps, or orange squash, or shampoo, or motor oil got to do with it? In one TV advert, for Marks & Spencer, Caroline Quentin claims to love the football, but spends the time you'd have though she would use to watch the match, which is on in the background, in the kitchen preparing a sort of pick'n'dip salad with M & S products, which she then wheels into the TV room as the game finishes. The sheer illogicality of this has annoyed me to the extent that I have resolved never to shop at M & S again (yes I did, sometimes). I would have really liked to extend this boycott to all the products which have so irritatingly been connected with the World Cup in this spurious way, but that would result in death from malnutrition fairly rapidly. 'But it's only once every 4 years' they say, but in the 2 intervening years there are the Olympics (yawn) and the Rugby World Cup to put up with, and every bloody year enhances the misery of winter with fucking Xmas. which will start any day now.
And another thing...all TV adverts jumping on the bandwagon inevitably have the soundtrack of cheering crowds-but they cannot possibly represent the World Cup crowds as there are no vuvuzelas. Ah, vuvus-has anything ever been devised which is more perfect for the purpose of annoying me? Seriously, fire one of those fuckers off anywhere near me and I promise you will need major surgery to remove it.
Thank you, Ann, for provoking me into writing this here blog, as I've got some of the bile off my chest at least!
So, this gives me a brilliant opportunity to go out for either a walk or a bike ride this evening. The weather is good, and if I go over the park, or town, after 7.30, I'll have the place to myself, give or take the odd ball of tumbleweed. Magic! No squawking brats, squeaky snappy little dogs, kids on skateboards, people pushing prams who don't look where they're going, blokes who only have dogs or children so they can have something to shout at, and all the other things that conspire to make my life less fun than it should be. And empty roads to cycle on.
I am growing, or to be more truthful have grown, into a gloriously miserable old git. Almost anything that other people enjoy pisses me off, and no one else likes the things I do, so everyone thinks I am just a bit wierd (this statement of course excludes those who know me. They already know I'm wierd). My tolerance of people at large and their irritating lives is worn thin, and I don't know if this is a part of getting older or just me being ornery (lovely word from my childhood watching 'B' movie westerns. There was critters and varmints, then there was ornery critters and ornery varmints, which were worse) which I always was a bit. Everyone needs a hobby and being a misserable old git is mine, and as long as you lot persist in having brats, dogs, noisy lifestyles, ridiculous 4x4 cars and kids who cannot listen to an music track from beginning to end without switching to another one (this sends me inexplicalbly into a frothing rage), I will defend my right to my hobby.
If any aspect of the World Cup has really put my back up though, it is the unrelenting, unavoidable, all-present marketing. This is as bad as Xmas. Products which have no connection with soccer at all cannot be allowed into the shops without a little football logo on them somewhere. I sort of understand why TV manufacturers jump on the bandwagon (although I wish they wouldn't), but what have crisps, or orange squash, or shampoo, or motor oil got to do with it? In one TV advert, for Marks & Spencer, Caroline Quentin claims to love the football, but spends the time you'd have though she would use to watch the match, which is on in the background, in the kitchen preparing a sort of pick'n'dip salad with M & S products, which she then wheels into the TV room as the game finishes. The sheer illogicality of this has annoyed me to the extent that I have resolved never to shop at M & S again (yes I did, sometimes). I would have really liked to extend this boycott to all the products which have so irritatingly been connected with the World Cup in this spurious way, but that would result in death from malnutrition fairly rapidly. 'But it's only once every 4 years' they say, but in the 2 intervening years there are the Olympics (yawn) and the Rugby World Cup to put up with, and every bloody year enhances the misery of winter with fucking Xmas. which will start any day now.
And another thing...all TV adverts jumping on the bandwagon inevitably have the soundtrack of cheering crowds-but they cannot possibly represent the World Cup crowds as there are no vuvuzelas. Ah, vuvus-has anything ever been devised which is more perfect for the purpose of annoying me? Seriously, fire one of those fuckers off anywhere near me and I promise you will need major surgery to remove it.
Thank you, Ann, for provoking me into writing this here blog, as I've got some of the bile off my chest at least!
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