And Then The Vote…

   Well, so the latest hyperventilating seems to be focusing on Starma-gedden promising{?} to give the right to vote to 16 and 17 Year old kids.
   Y’all thought that through yet? Well, here’s my half a brain thoughts.
   Let’s assume Starma-gedden wins and shortly thereafter announces further draconian restrictions on us down here to save the planet. Whoa! No! Shout a goodly number of folk down here. Okay says he, I’m listening to y’all so we’ll hold a referend-a-doodad, okay? Guess wot. The vote is won by those wanting things harder and faster to save the planet. And the vote was swayed how? Why all those kids who’ve spent a goodly amount of their   school time being indoctrinated into the cult of little Greta Thumbalina of course.
   Shortly thereafter he announces his plan to start negotiations regards the UK rejoining the European Union.
   Having another guess? After the kickback from a bunch of us down here another referend-a-doodad is announced as he's still listening to us. It comes to pass and guess wot? It results in another win for them up there owing to the kiddy vote that's been ‘taught’ how bad things have got here since a bunch of nutters voted to leave the EU and how restricted their travel has become with severe restrictions on where they can work and live.
   There’ll be many more tricks tucked up his sleeve I’m sure as there will be a huge kiddy voter base, the product of our modern day education, indoctrination system...

Quote; Oscar Auliq-Ice.

“If you can’t get your targets to vote for a positive vision of the future, convince them to vote against a vision of impending doom.”

And Then, It’s Cool Again...

   We awoke to see the outside was beautifully coated in crisp white with temperatures in the minus range. Another sign that the weather is just point blank refusing to fillow the official script, eh?
  In other ‘news’ I caught an announcement on some ‘news’ program regards that tragic plane crash in Nepal – and I quote as I noted it right quick – ‘An Englishman is amongst one of the passengers...’ Hay, it’s writ-down so I’m gonna read it out, right? Just another one of the many daily examples of the countries declining education standards is it not?
   Queue this beauty again y’all thunk?

Quote;  Woody Allen.

“I had a terrible education. I attended a school for emotionally disturbed teachers.”

And Then Another Number...

   And it’s a big one. A tad over another half a million newest bestest friends rolled up in the past year? Let’s remember this is a ‘conservative’ total.
   Then we have our pals languishing in four star hotels all over the country. Just a thought; where do those hotel dwellers go if their request for asylum is granted? Where do they go to live and wot benefits do they get? Page down to Claiming Benefits. Hell, it’s only our tax money eh?
   At the risk of repeating myself – it’s a habit – when we relocated to the UK, to be close to the NHS, blessed be its name, and good programs on the telly – our mistake - it took two years to get a leave to remain visa for my little nest of vipers.
   Why? She had to prove her ability to speak and understand English. Just an interview? No, a certificate from an adult education college. Just an interview there then? No, a years course and an exam. Spookily, along with her, if memory serves, there were only another two in her class who had to pay, and pay a bunch, for the course. Guess wot? Only three failed  the exam and that needed another years course at further great expense. How weird is that then?
   Finally, at great cost all round, she got her leave to remain visa. Guess wot again? No recourse to public funds thus no benefits of any kind and not even a percentage of my pension when I’m gone. Man, how we wish she’d come over by dinghy.

Quote;  Daniel Tosh.

“Spelling is difficult because there are too many rules. Silent letters only exist to make it harder for illegal immigrants to learn English.”

And Then, Success...

   I’m guessing you all caught the breathless TV ‘reporting’ of the announcements regards A-level exam results. I have to say I was impressed and reassured by the kids – sorry, young adults – smart turnout, in various school uniforms, for this important moment in their lives. Oh, wait an important but mainly bedraggled rag-tag moment.
   All those interviewed expressed how it was well, so, I mean, like, totally awesome that they’d, like, got ‘x’ passes so could, like, go to uni. and, like, you know, get a degree in, like, something easy and useless. Oh, and I’m, like, really, really excited    about being, in like, debt for like, years to come.
   And that is a brief look at this countries future. Looks like all hope is lost. That would be the little hope still left to lose at this  point in time.
   Then I saw an item about recruiting for the RAF. Something to do with having to prioritise ethnics when recruiting. Did they misspell Africa as  I’ve searched my atlas front to back and even did a search of Google maps but I just couldn’t find this country called Ethnic of which they speak. Oh, seems I got that wrong as well. Anyhoo, regards this, refer to paragraph three again...

Quote;  Haruki Murakami.

The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can't be learned at school.

And Then, A Bit Of English...

   ...like wot it’s spoken in this brave new world wot we live in via an ‘interesting’ clip provided by the good Ripper. Kind of illustrates the state of ‘our’ education system does it not. Wot? Not? You sure it’s not and not knot? Funny that the grownup use of English hasn’t hit home but the chemi cocktail propaganda has been received and is firmly lodged in place. Job done I guess.
   And this young lady is still, like, at school? Couple this with our highly educated ‘betters above us’ grasp of our language with their constant use of wellerum... And boy, was there some welleruming on the TV this AM of a morning was.
   Just a simple, fun way, to illustrate how far we’ve fallen, I guess the question these days would run along these lines.
“Well, er, you, like, got, like, a pen?”
How well I remember a radio operator asking me the same question, oft repeated here, although slightly differently phrased. “
Excuse me. Would you, perchance, have a pen secreted about the voluminous folds of your outer garments?” 
   Finally, wot does ‘like’ even mean? I understand such as, ‘I like to go out for a nice meal’ or, ‘I like that colour.’ Wot I don’t understand is ‘like’ being used in such as, ‘I can’t, like, wait to get another, like, shot of chemi cocktail.’

  Quote;  Dorothy L. Sayers.

“The English language has a deceptive air of simplicity; so have some little frocks; but they are both not the kind of thing you can run up in half an hour with a machine.”

And Then, The News...

   ...this morning AM of the o’clock was all about kids going back to school with the ‘instruction’ to muzzle-up so they had some fellow with the unlikely name of, what sounded to me like, Not-him Za-hahaha-wi.
   Now this fellow has to take the early weekly prize for a record breaking number, to date, of ‘well’-ings, ‘umm’-ings, ‘so’-ings and ‘err’-ings used in every sentence he uttered. And he’s in charge of the countries education? I guess this, like, answers the question as to why so many kids, like, leave school and university totally like, terrified of punctuation and capitalisation.
   Now back to the studio where our ‘news’ host  will present you with some really, really big scary co-co numbers totally devoid of any meaningful context.
   Finally, if you work in the public sector, please don’t  forget – yea, right - to do one of they co-co Literally Foolish Tests before you leave home and, assuming you manage to wangle a positive result, reward yourself with a further ten{?} days of seasonal holiday; to be known officially as isolating. Only kidding; folk wouldn’t do that would they. Would they? Oh...
   Wot the hay, I believe it’s vegan month so let’s go out with Cows With Guns. Again.
         

Quote;  Dennis Miller.

"You know there is a problem with the education system when you realize that out of the 3 R's only one begins with an R."

             Phyllis Diller.

"We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk, and the next twelve years telling them to sit down and shut up."

And Then, Something To Play With...

Well, so, I’ve been doing a little paper hanging and it wasn’t as much fun as it was a couple of years ago but the end result was still cause for happy satisfaction.

Then back to the news and I’m sure you’re all as sick as me having to hear about all the poor students wot have been put under house arrest and, like, can’t go to the pub to, like, see their friends. Have you noticed how many of these brightest and smartest of their age resemble pin cushions? Put that together with multi coloured hair and I’ll just repeat myself by saying how much fun you could have, like, being a fly on the, like, wall at their, like, job interviews. Can we see some job application letters later please?

By-the-by, and following on from wot’s above, via a comment over at  Going Postal, I meandered over to the Dozy Tubbygraph to take in this beauty.
“...has been banned from teaching children under six after his appearance gave a child nightmares.”
A tat – sorry – tad over the top for a teacher you think? Hay, his body, his choice but to have the whites of your eyes surgically turned black? And the statement that’s making is...

           

In other communications, I’ve been in receipt of two missives from the NHS, blessed be its name. One was asking me to install that tacky trance thingy. I’m right on it, right? Yeah, right. The second? Well, that was a bit o’ kit I was asked to use and send back to the NHS, blessed be its name.

For a little background on that, remember we are in the teethe of a ‘major pan-doodad’ and the instructions to the hard of learning, since March, have been to keep your hands clean. However this bit o’ kit requires me to fiddle about with my faeces and send ‘em a sample for testing to see if I may have things.

I thought the health services were on their knees with Covid-1984 cases and testing for said flue without the added burden of playing with peoples poo-poo.

Anyhoo, assuming you do fiddle with your faeces, send it off and, however remote the chance, get called in for further tests. When you get there, first rattle out o’ the box? You’ll be swabbed for WHO-flue, possibly found positive and then abandoned on a trolley in a corridor to just become another statistic and an up-tick on a chart.  Not I, said he to me.  

However good intentioned and possibly helpful the initial idea may be.  Someone ‘up there’ really does need to start thinking things through regards timing.

Quote;  Wayne Dyer.

If all you do is follow the herd, you'll just be stepping in poop all day

            Jerry Seinfeld.

If aliens are watching us through telescopes, they're going to think the dogs are the leaders of the planet. If you see two life forms, one of them's making a poop, the other one's carrying it for him, who would you assume is in charge?

And Then Possibly English...

While utilizing the car to transport my little nest of vipers to her lottery ticket vending establishment of choice, the radio was tuned into a young folks music station. In between a pair of songs, there was an interview with wot I’m guessing was a twenty something young lady. Wot the young lady – and I do apologise if she was identifying as a squirrel at the time – did, I don’t know but I’m guessing something in showbiz; a singer or some such.

Anyhoo, wot I heard was this young lady telling her audience how, as a twelve year old, she suffered mental problems such as anxiety attacks and severe depression which she’s never fully recovered from. And the cause of this? When she was twelve she was  constantly being asked, by every adult she met, wot she wanted to do when she grew up. Who knew being asked a question like that could drive you close to nuts.

As close as my old brain remembers, her above answer went something along these lines.
”I, like, started to get, like, depressed because all, like, grownups would ask me what I, like, wanted to be when I, like, grew up and I would answer that I, like, didn’t know ‘cause I’m only, like, twelve.”
From that and other riveting ‘interviews’ I’ve had the privilege of watching during house arrest, thanks to Look-At-Media, it seems that the ‘like’ word is the word of choice for anyone under thirty{?} but, it seems, rarely, if ever used in any context.

From that I guessed the young lady didn’t get many tough questions regarding the English language asked of her during her voyage through, like, childhood. Sad as it may seem, it drives this old fellow, like, nuts.

In other news I see that tussle haired scamp has stated that everything should be back to normal by December; with the new restrictions on the old normal remaining in place. But that’s only common sense...

            

Quote;  Baltasar Gracián.

“A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one.”

And Then A Quiz...

At the crack of quite early this morning AM, whilst watching the clock tick towards pill poppin’ time, I was patiently going through the news channels on the TV in a forlorn search for the actual news rather than the fluff an’ puff they pass off as news,  when I stumbled into a quiz show. I was just in time to hear the question asking fellow ask a young, but not that young lady the name of the sea that separates  England from the Netherlands. The young, but not that young lady answered in a heartbeat and with great confidence, “The Pacific.”  Basic geography not your strong point then young, but not that young lady?

Never mind girl; you’re not alone:

         

Finally, I’d like to ask Greta Thumbelina, blessed be her name, where that global warming is you promised us as I’m getting a tad fed up with this rain falling from gloomy grey skies and the high winds, all requiring the fire to be on for an hour or so of an evening to warm these old bones of mine.

Quote;  Neil Gaiman.

“Note for Americans and other aliens: Milton Keynes is a new city approximately halfway between London and Birmingham. It was built to be modern, efficient, healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing.”

And Then More Guidance...

Well, so, some businesses and schools could be opened again. Some shops could be allowed to open again. And what happens? Various chairpersons of confederations of this, that or the other, or the union for this, that or the other, popup all over the place saying their ‘members are desperate for more guidance’.

If you’re a wage earner dependant on a business owner who’s looking and his businesses financial spreadsheets every evening and and watching the do-do getting deeper then got the whisper that you could be allowed to open-up again, would you be worried about ‘further guidance’?

Guidance?  Do they not see wot’s been going on all these weeks? Do all you can to keep in place wot’s wot when open and get the hell on with it.

Schools? If you’re considered bright enough to prepare our kids for adult life, surely you’re bright enough to figure out the occasional problem you’re faced with. Need guidance? Wot sort of example is that showing the kids?  As said before by my little nest of vipers; if all these folk always need their hands held, they’ll never learn to walk on their own.    

           

Quote;  Thomas H. Huxley.

“Surely there is a time to submit to guidance and a time to take one's own way at all hazards.”

And Then, A Message...

Well, so, continuing the apparent collapse of the English language, I was sitting in the waiting area of the GPs surgery the other day, waiting for a nurse to take a blood sample and thus with nothing much else to do, I studied the ticker type display on the wall way over and up there. It periodically gave a  beep and then displayed the name of the next patient to be seen and the number of the room they should make for. Other than that, it showed various general ‘information’ messages and it was one of these that ‘triggered’ me.

The message was, ‘Did you know that a chemist can see most things’ and no, there was no punctuation. Wot does that even mean? My first thought was wot a relief it was to know chemists weren’t fumbling about with foggy vision trying to match the hazy writing on a prescription to the blurry writing on all those boxes and packs of meds in their store and thus were able to present the right meds to the right recipient.  However, reading it another way, it could also mean chemists dabble in the paranormal and can occasionally see dead people hanging about behind you. Or, in the interests of health and safety, do we need to ask what exactly it is that chemists can’t see? Scary.

Now this surgery is by no means small and houses many doctors, nurses and ancillary staff thus I wondered why one of those super intelligent folk hadn’t had a quiet word with the ticker technician and suggested dropping the ‘see’ in favour of ‘advise on’. Also, but possibly a step too far, how about replacing ‘things’ with ‘ailments’? Another giant leap could be to replace ‘chemist’ with ‘pharmacist’. End the message with a question mark and they’d be cooking by gas! Little things eh?

See how sad you can become when you find yourself sitting somewhere, solo, waiting and waiting with nothing to do.

Quote;  Bill Bryson.

“English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin, a language with which it has precious little in common.”

And Then We’re Not Even Close...

Not even close to wot? Well, hot on the heels of the disadvantaged octopus menu, and going by wot’s below, it would seem we’ve a ways to go yet, and heavens knows wot’s next, before we arrive at peak lunacy – if ever. Read this and weep/laugh your socks off then do the clicky on this to read the lot – although there’s really not a lot. Anyhoo, it’s a wind-up, right? Please, oh please let it be a wind-up and if it is, it’s a beauty. But if it’s not a wind-up...
  “Students at the University of Bristol are being offered squares of bubble wrap to help them cope with stress.
   The 'stress-relief packs' have been offered to students on campus to help them combat the strain of the January exam period...
   ...Instructions on each packet state: "For immediate stress relief, pop three capsules every four to six hours, or as needed."
   Despite the well-intentioned move to tackle students' fears, some at the university have raised questions about the bubble wrap therapy approach and its potential to cause unnecessary plastic waste...”

Quote;  Lily Tomlin.

“Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.”

And Then, The Brightest And Bestest...

As time passes I’m finding that my head is now in a state of almost perpetual side to side shaking motion with only the early morning coffee making time period providing a non-shaking and stable swede as once the brain in a box is booted and bright and the news appears then head shaking commences and that is it for the rest of the day.

And the latest lunacy? That would be a university with octopus on the menu for the freshers welcome dinner of course.
”An Oxford college president has demanded that octopus is removed from the menu as part of a drive to make disadvantaged students feel more “comfortable”.
Disadvantaged how? Because they’ve only got two arms and not eight? Because they can’t squirt ink or breath under water? Hello?
”...after receiving a complaint from a first-year student about an octopus terrine dish, she instructed Somerville’s catering staff to replace it with a less adventurous alternative.”
And the salient word there? ‘A’.  A complaint from A student thus implying one complaint from one student. So much for that youthful sense of adventure eh?  You can read the little wot’s not ‘walled’ here.

In a sane world this kid would’ve been told they should consider him/her/itself privileged to have ‘won’ a place to a top university and was also lucky to be given the chance to try octopus; try it and if you don’t like it, forget it. How hard is that then?

And these are the smart ones who want to be masters of the world. A world where absolutely anything and everything is now game to complain about with a frighteningly good chance of that complaint being bounced into action.

From down here I have to wonder at this privileged education system where kids can feast for free on a menu featuring a starter of octopus while I languish down here on  a menu of a tenth of a sausage and one and a half eggs per week as prescribed by the resultant product of same said privileged education system.

Quote;  George Carlin.

“I don’t eat lobsters, shrimp, or crawfish because I don’t eat anything that looks like I should step on it.”

And Then, It Fits...

I caught the late news on TV last night - and it hasn’t improved today - and how the main channels are trying to come to terms with that fellow over the water getting elevated to the Supreme Court. Man, all those ‘reporters’ look like they’re chewing wasps. A joy to watch as their assumed unassailable world gets a kicking is it not?

You know wot? When you look at the reported ‘hundreds’ protesting this appointment, it’s hard to spot any lady, and I use the term ‘lady’ loosely, that’s un-tatted, pierced or over twenty something. Similar to those over here protesting about Brexit – whatever that is – as it went against their wishes and expectations. And therein lies the rub.

Pause a while and reflect on our education system and how it’s been transformed over many years. Never the mind the alleged softly softly lefty indoctrination, think more of the new order that there must be no form of competition and thus no winners and most definitely no losers.

So having spent all those years in cosseted education, when they finally find themselves out in the oh so cruel real world and discover some result or other has gone against their expectations and wishes, being totally unprepared for the possibility of losing, they scream and scream and kick and kick and can’t be reasoned with at all as it’s so, like, totally unfair and, as they’ve been taught, just shouldn’t ever happen to them.

Anyhoo, further to this and the last few posts, that fine chap at Head Rambles put a line from a toon in the title of his last post, also relating to the latest lunacy, that fits the bill rather well; well spotted that man! So for all the loons making all those decisions only loons could make, have at this. Stands back in amazement as I note it’s had close to three hundred and sixty million views.

         

A K Haart also has a great piece on ‘Peak Loon’. I love that; peak loon. Consider it stolen Mr Haart. With apologies of course.

Let’s draw the weekend to a close on a lighter note with one I pinched and posted a little bit after a while ago. Enjoy.

  Five surgeons are discussing who makes the best patients to operate on.
   The first surgeon says, "I like to see accountants on my operating table because when you open them up everything inside is numbered."
   The second responds, "Yeah, but you should try electricians!  Everything inside them is colour coded."
   The third surgeon says, "No, I really think librarians are the best!   Everything inside them is in alphabetical order."
   The fourth surgeon chimes in. "You know, I like construction workers. Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over."
   But the fifth surgeon shut them all up when he said, "You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine. Plus, the head and the ass are interchangeable."

Quote;  John Ruskin.

“Modern education has devoted itself to the teaching of impudence, and then we complain that we can no longer control our mobs.”  

And Then, Yet More...

Am I right in believing there’s a program on the TV every morning called Good Morning Britain, cunningly abbreviated to GMB? Well, after blundering into the latest lunacy, stupidly thinking we’d already reached peak lunacy, I feel there’s an opportunity for a new TV show. Put it on once a week, late Friday evening and have a bunch of they roving reporters posted round the pubs ready to take comments live on air. The aim of this new program? To have a rundown of all the past weeks lunatic ideas and ‘new loony plans’. And the name of this ground-breaking program? Good By Britain.

The above was brought to thought by bumbling into this stunning ‘news’ a bit of wot’s below. Yes, similar has been bandied about recently, but this takes it to a whole different level. {Still not sure if you’re presently allowed to do that cut an’ paste thingy so if it’s now naughty, sorry.}
   “Parents who won't let their son wear a skirt may have to be referred to social services, schools advised.”
   “Mothers and fathers who dismiss a “gender questioning” child’s requests to change their name could also be a trigger for concern, according to Brighton and Hove City Council’s “Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit”.

Hello Brighton Council, you have a ‘Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit’? Are you all totally nuts? Hay, these are children you’re messing with. Children. Leave them alone to be children. They’ll grow into confused adults soon enough without your looney toons interference, okay? Do something a tad useful. I’m sure your roads have countless potholes you could be repairing, right? Have at it!

You know wot’s really scary? The fact these weirdoes actually manage to get into prominent positions and are then allowed to start foisting their whacky ideas onto the unsuspecting public at large. And how long before that public finally say, you know wot? Enough already. Let’s break out the pitchforks. Yeah right, time passes; squirrels romp hither and thither...

Quote;  Steven Levitsky.

“The drift into authoritarianism doesn’t always set off alarm bells. Citizens are often slow to realize that their democracy is being dismantled even as it happens before their eyes.”

And Then More Nuttery...

I’m still up against it and flat out like a lizard drinking but still confident I’ll have it all snuffed up waaaay before that Brexit thingy. Probably faster than Mrs May-be-Dumb could spell BREXIT out loud. So why am I here? You seen the latest lunacy? Manchester University student union is to ban clapping because it may trigger anxiety attacks... You shaking your head in disbelief out there?

This would be one of our universities; those bastions of learning where the best of the best of our young would go to study and also be confronted by all the good, the bad and the ugly that life can throw at you and learn to cope and confront it all by differentiating between all those things and engaging in reasoned argument for or against. And may the best ma... sorry; person win. Now they can’t even be allowed to clap in case it causes some of them to fold and start crying? Hello?

The scary thing is that, in the not too distant future, some of these timid little cotton wool wrapped things names are going to be popping up on ballot papers for election to high office. Think about that.

Please, when does the fight-back start? 

Quote;  James Stephens.

“A sword, a spade, and a thought should never be allowed to rust.”

And Then, No Time...

Scary news I spotted this morning. Yup, the bit about the alarming number of school kids that can’t tell the time using an analogue clock. Bag that with the news of kids diminishing vocabularies, disappearing maths and there really isn’t anything further to say other than the future, and I don’t know how far into the future I’ll get, is looking increasingly scary for this island. How long before we completely stop teaching the little rascals – sorry, the allegedly ‘fat’ little rascals – reading, writing and arithmetic then?

Also, I was out in the motor the other day and listened to a reporter who was ‘out-and-about’ asking young adults – millennials? – if they could wire an electrical plug. From the sample size, ‘No’ was the loud reply. Being of an age, I well remember that any mains powered electrical item purchased, a three pin plug was an ‘optional’ extra. And, when an electrical item was ditched, rarely back then, the plug was cut off and kept.

Anyhoo, time flies and I have stuff to do. “Hay Siri, my trusty tin can, wot’s the time?”

Quote;  Dave Eggers.

“Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.”

And Then, No Surprise...

I’m guessing you’ve all seen the latest LBQUERTY stuff that’s hit the news, right? The church bit about boys being allowed to wear girl stuff doesn’t surprise me as they themselves have been wearing long frocks for, like ever so it’d be hard for them to object.

But the teacher in deep do-do for doing what he did? Damned if he didn’t call a girl a girl.  Isn’t that just calling a spade a spade? Oh, wait, sorry...

   A maths teacher at a school in Oxfordshire has been suspended and will appear at a disciplinary hearing to answer allegations that he referred to a pupil born female as a ‘girl’.
   In November, a complaint was made against Christian teacher, Joshua Sutcliffe from Oxford, that he referred to a transgender pupil as a “girl”, rather than the desired ‘boy’. The pupil had self-declared as ‘male.

I really don’t understand this bit below from the second link at all but it did make me smile at the sadness of it all;

   According to documents seen by the Mail on Sunday, the school also found Mr Sutcliffe to have been in breach of the school’s equality policies when he referred to the teenager by name, rather than using male pronouns.

If you want to tuck your frocks in your socks you can read more here and also here.

In all honesty I shouldn’t be surprised as our ‘education’ system has been brainwashing their charges for a long time now so why not add a little light brain-bending as well?

That is definitely it for me as very soon now nobody will know exactly what, who, why, when or if they really are. Bu-by.

However, there is good news out there as I see a dietitian has declared that two burgers are better for you than one with fries and that news couldn’t have come at a better time for me. Hope you remembered to get a ‘buy’ in on any and all fast food stocks.

            

Quote;  Sarah Waters.

“Clad not exactly as a boy but, rather confusingly, as the boy I would have been, had I been more of a girl.”

And Then It’s Our Fault...

Wot would that be then? Why Irma and company of course. It seems, according to some media outlets here, that it’s all our fault as we’re just not doing enough to prevent that pesky Co2 escaping, running south west** and helping to form hurricanes. I was going to type, ‘you couldn’t make it up’ but you obviously can.

**Capitalise compass points? I done did a Google and a search but got, like, totally confused. As you do with English grimmer.

Interestingly, along the same lines, I see that one of our leading universities is considering letting students type exam answers as their handwriting is deteriorating at such a pace and it’s becoming increasingly hard to read and thus hard to mark their papers. No problem if they want to be doctors I guess.

Please remind me wot kids are supposed to be  taught in school prior to heading off to work or university. Rithmatic, reading and righting, right? But it would seem Cambridge University is admitting that, for quite some time now, they’ve been accepting students who can’t even write legibly. Wot’s that all about then? Don’t they have to write anything before getting into university?

If, for other reasons not yet fully understood, they feel these kids should be granted entry to those hallowed halls, why not just tell ‘em, first rattle out o’ the box, that if any written work or exam answers can’t be read {red}, then that’ll be considered an automatic fail. Start drumming that into kids heads and hands from an early age in fact. It would seem the university has surrendered to the snowflakes without so much as a retaliatory word; neither spoken nor txtd. The age of the machine must truly be with us.

I wait with breath well baited to read an early example of a typed exam answer. It’s going to be, like, so totally, like, awesome.

Okay, here’s our anthem again and, compared to wot’s going on out here, it’s looking saner by the day.

Quote;  Fennel Hudson.

“How is your handwriting?” I ask. “Do you write in pencil or pen?” They stare back at me with squinting eyes and a look that needs no words. “Get with it granddad.”

             Earl Wilson,

“You may not be able to read a doctor's handwriting and prescription, but you'll notice his bills are neatly typewritten.”

And Then, The Blame Game...

I see the news channels have moved on from reporting the tragic high-rise fire in terms of it being a tragic high-rise fire and have moved on and are now turning their cameras onto anyone who’s happy to blame someone and anyone they feel is to blame. It also seems that the more shouty that person is the better it is. If it transpires they’re  a refugee as well, well, happy daze as that’s just the really sweet, thick icing on a diverse, multi-ingredient culinary enriched cake.

These folk are happy to blame the very people who let ‘em move over here and then gave them a roof over their heads. In Kensington in the capital no less. A capital with homeless ex servicemen.

This, of course, will play along nicely with those Jerry Carbine cultists who’re calling for a million march down the smoke - no pun intended. Oh, and they want to seize others homes to re-house the victims and, sadly, a lot of the young will believe this to be, like, a totally awesome idea. You know wot? Try using a dod of that foreign aid money right here where the foreigners are who need help right now.

You get the spooky feeling we could be on the brink of a really big ‘hearty’ party here?

Regarding the young, I do like this comment, on loan from I remember not were relating to young and old. As usual, sorry and thank you whayeman.

whyayeman

   "According to the 2011 census, 52.9 per cent of the over-65s have no formal qualifications at all. By contrast, 40.3 per cent of 25-34 year olds have a degree."
   Of course, back in those days, most if not all could do their sums, could spell, could boil an egg, didn't burst into tears when things didn't go their way and weren't that interested in meeja studies or crochet as a career choice.
   The truth is that it has been Education .... Educaytion .... Edukayshun!

And that, for reasons not yet fully understood, sent be back to a post from 2011 wherein I pasted a bit from JoNova and thought it worth a revisit as it seems ‘green initiatives’ could’ve played some part in the fire.

   "In the line at the supermarket, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
   The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.” The cashier responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation didn’t care enough to save our environment.” He was right — our generation didn’t have The Green Thing in its day.
   Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
   We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.
   Back then, we washed the baby’s nappies because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts — wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
   Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Western Australia. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
   Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.
   We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled fountain pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the green thing back then.
   Back then, people took the tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one power point in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?
   Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person. Remember: Don’t make old people mad.
   We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to piss us off."

Quote;  Doris Lessing.

“The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion.”