Irish Brexit comedy

A very funny Irish comic I came across recently, talking about Brexit from the Irish point of view, amusing, sad and prophetic at the same time. It's funny how people in the UK hardly ever talk about this anymore, it's joined the list of dinner party no-no's along with religion and politics, as usual the Brits are paranoid about causing "offence"! Personally, I feel it's more appropriate than ever to dredge it all up again, we need a strong and united Europe right now and currently the prevailing wind is blowing in the opposite direction, especially with the incompetent Foreign Secretary we have, soon to be incompetent Prime Minister. Flush the Tories out of power ASAP and have a second referendum within 3 years, this kind of bold, pivotal move is what we need right now IMO or we'll fall even further down the economic league tables in terms of standards of living and social services provision, Scotland will be off and we'll have gained absolutely zip-all except blue passports and empty supermarket shelves.

Saturday Smile

Supposedly seen in Cheltenham (appropriate!)

 

Kerb life II

Back in 2021 I blogged about some road workings that had installed plastic kerb stones and noticed the kerb on this busy corner had already suffered some minor damage. I speculated at the time about how long they'd last and whether or not they might be a false economy (see picture on the left). Well, 18 months later (picture on the right) and it looks like there's been quite a bit of damage, the plastic seems to have been completely smashed in four or five places and is looking a bit sorry for itself. 

I wonder how much longer it'll be before the road has to be closed for a week so that these smashed kerb stones can be replaced (hopefully by more robust ones!), then again, knowing our council the patch of grass behind the kerb is probably ear-marked for a new housing estate and they're planning to trash the whole area, we shall see..

 

Safe and sound

I'm really hoping this is a real advert (you never know with photoshop these days!) supposedly seen in NYC, but if it isn't, it's still very good so well done colonial brothers and sisters and vive la révolution!

 

Sticks and stones..

Recently seen on the interwebs, a word-cloud built from the words people most readily think about when contemplating our likely next Prime Minister, Liz Truss. As you can see it's hardly inspiring although I'm relieved to see that "pork" scores the same as "competent" (both of which are less than "clueless" and "twat"), gotta keep the sausage lobby on-side! 

 

Use them or lose them..

Sign seen outside a pub in my home town (been in the same spot since the 17th century), amusing and plucky in a classic "British" kind of way but also smacks of desperation. I fear things are going to get worse before they get better and local (small) businesses will need a lot of support from customers, government and suppliers to survive this oncoming "Winter of discontent". 

Friday Smirk

J&M pointing out the rationalists position on prayer, i.e. that, much like masturbation, it only benefits the person doing it and not the person they're thinking of...

 

Midweek Mirth

I'm always up for a humorous Venn...

 

Philosophy for our times

 

More fiction is written using Excel than Word..

Short back and sides

I was out walking this lunchtime, my usual midday exercise, and came across this little stone sign. I'd never noticed it before and must have passed the spot a hundred times! Anyway, I reckon that because the grass is so short and, basically dead because of the hot Summer, the sign was way more exposed than normal, in previous years I bet it would have been obscured by tall grass. Anyway, it made me think about what one of these old fashioned stone mileage signs would be called, "milestone" I guess, I wonder how old this one is and whereabouts in the centre of London 31 miles would actually be, time for some Googling!

 

Tuesday Titter

14 year old boy working in the marketing department?

 

Broken Britain

I wonder if the tourist board will be putting something like this on the front of it's brochures for next year? Come to Britain, swim in shitty water, pay more than anywhere else for public transport (if it's running), don't get ill whatever you do and sorry if you get mugged but there's no lawyers to hear your case any more.. "Broken Britain", catchy..

 

Sunday Walk

Had a nice walk alongside the Thames this afternoon with the family, it was a lovely day, sunny but not too hot although the grass down by TVP Nature Reserve was tinder dry still.

 

Grapefruity

I tried a new beer while making dinner last night, a collaboration between two of my favourite breweries, Elusive (up the road from me in Finchampstead) and Verdant, Falmouth Cornwall. The beer called "Trust The Diagram" in an IPA in a West coast style and is delicious, tons of grapefruit flavours with a citrus core, a lip smacking bitter finish that makes you want another sip, I've got another can in the fridge so may just crack it open later this evening with some cheese, yum!

 

Celebrations

 

We're in a celebratory mood at our house this week, like many families up and down the country and after much stress and anxiety, the A-Level results for my Daughter came in on Thursday morning and we were all pleased that she completely smashed it! She'll be attending UCL (University College London) from September and I'm super proud of her, the Champers is on me this weekend!

Scandalous

I'm not sure what's worse, the fact that water companies dump raw sewage into our seas or the fact that we, as a society, allow them to do it. This is a picture of the beach at Swanage, Dorset yesterday, it's time that this ceased and the buggers were re-nationalised IMO.

 

Friday Smirk

J&M on the thorny subject of religious violence and why Islam is probably the most violent religion at the moment (it hasn't always been) I think the best way to understand it is not to think of these religiously inspired attacks as a desire to protect God or even protect the sensibilities of Muslims, it's really all about scoring browny points! Like a cheap TV game show, many religious people believe that if you score enough points during your life by doing things that you believe are "the will of your God" then you get eternal life, virgins, paradise etc. in the next life. I guess the number of points you get for beheading a blasphemer is large, whereas helping the poor not so much, mysterious ways indeed.

 

Frumpy curtain twitchers?

So there's a hullabaloo going on in the media at the moment about the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin. A leaked video (above) shows her dancing at a party with friends and people are saying that her movements are "unbecoming of a Prime Minister" in case you don't know she is the lady wearing the black top with white jeans. Personally I think she looks great, and is obviously into her music, at least she's up to speed with what most normal younger people actually enjoy doing, i.e. dancing, going to festivals and generally having a good time, in fact truth be told I know quite a few older people who enjoy that stuff too! 

Anyway, those frumpy curtain twitchers who are moaning about this should try having a Prime Minister who breaks the law, fathers illegitimate children, lies, cheats, lines the pockets of his mates and threatens to have people beaten up, then perhaps a few raunchy dance moves might not seem that bad?

2022 be like..

(from a real health-check web form) erm, run that one by me again??

 

Sunday park band

We went to Forbury Gardens (park) in Reading on Sunday afternoon to listen to one of our friends play in a band. The venue was the actual band-stand in the middle of the park and a fine concert it was too, particularly as we managed to locate ourselves in seats under a large oak tree in the shade next to the ice-cream stand! 

Anyway, just behind where we were sitting was a large cross monument (see picture above) and I didn't know what it was, when we got home I did a bit of Googling and found out that it's a memorial cross to King Henry the first, Fourth son of William the Conquerer he became king of England in 1100 and reigned for thirty five years. The reason it's in Reading is because he's buried here (although his entrails are buried in France!!)  somewhere under the ruins of Reading Abby (which you can just see in the background of the picture) and apparently there's an attempt going on to locate his remains (spurred on by the discovery of Richard III in Leicester) interesting stuff! I'm not sure how old the monument is, it doesn't look that old, but there's also a plaque nearby that confirms the link with Henry (see picture below)