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Meles meles Censura
Posts : 5119 Join date : 2011-12-30
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 16 Jan 2016, 13:18 | |
| Or perhaps, P, your destination is known for its fine cuisine, and so the airlines expect that visitors will have piled on a few pounds during their stay ... leaving less space/weight for their luggage. |
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ferval Censura
Posts : 2602 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 16 Jan 2016, 14:44 | |
| Right, you've prompted a proper rant from me. Why aren't airline passengers weighed along with their luggage? I always feel swizzed at having to pay the same as someone who weighs more than me and my luggage since that means they are using far more fuel to get from A to B apart from taking up half of the adjoining seat(s) as well as their own.
And breathe. |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 16 Jan 2016, 15:20 | |
| Priscilla is locked out of Res His! I wonder if anyone else is having problems? if they are they won't be able to tell us, of course, except by email. Hope this is just a technical hitch and not the beginning of a Purge. |
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Priscilla Censura
Posts : 2772 Join date : 2012-01-16
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 16 Jan 2016, 15:27 | |
| Back in - without bloodshed, even! I had assumed technical glitch and no purging old salts at work. I als tried to re-register in a new name so now there might be two me. Tee Hee. |
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Islanddawn Censura
Posts : 2163 Join date : 2012-01-05 Location : Greece
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 16 Jan 2016, 15:44 | |
| - ferval wrote:
- Right, you've prompted a proper rant from me. Why aren't airline passengers weighed along with their luggage? I always feel swizzed at having to pay the same as someone who weighs more than me and my luggage since that means they are using far more fuel to get from A to B apart from taking up half of the adjoining seat(s) as well as their own.
And breathe. I hadn't thought about that before, and you do have a point. But, I suppose, if airlines began charging larger passengers for excess baggage then there would be every man and his dog lining up to sue them for discrimination. |
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LadyinRetirement Censura
Posts : 3324 Join date : 2013-09-16 Location : North-West Midlands, England
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Fri 29 Jan 2016, 11:11 | |
| Doesn't Andy Pandy Lloyd-Webber's brother refuse to pay extra for a seat for his cello on airlines? I suppose you can do that if you're a well-known musician. To be fair Julian Lloyd-Webber does what he does well and Andy Pandy L-W does what he does well - it just isn't (for the most part) to my taste. I did a lot of "temping" in various offices in the 1980s and I heard so many versions of "The Phantom of the Opera is now my mastermind" that I can happily go for the rest of my life without hearing it and songs of its ilk (same as I can do without the bird with a wobbly voice singing (though Mr Lloyd-Webber can't be blamed for this one) about heaven being a place on earth). |
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LadyinRetirement Censura
Posts : 3324 Join date : 2013-09-16 Location : North-West Midlands, England
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Fri 29 Jan 2016, 11:17 | |
| - Temperance wrote:
- Priscilla is locked out of Res His! I wonder if anyone else is having problems? if they are they won't be able to tell us, of course, except by email.
Hope this is just a technical hitch and not the beginning of a Purge. I had downloaded some protective software which flagged this site up as one which could snaffle passwords. As the only password I use here is my log in for "Res His" I wasn't too worried but the first time I hadn't noticed an "I trust this site" button. The second time I managed to get in though.
Last edited by LadyinRetirement on Sat 30 Jan 2016, 20:17; edited 3 times in total (Reason for editing : Because for some reason I had typed 'snaffle' as 'snaffleuse'.) |
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Gilgamesh of Uruk Censura
Posts : 1560 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Fri 29 Jan 2016, 21:25 | |
| - LadyinRetirement wrote:
- Doesn't Andy Pandy Lloyd-Webber's brother refuse to pay extra for a seat for his cello on airlines? I suppose you can do that if you're a well-known musician. To be fair Julian Lloyd-Webber does what he does well and Andy Pandy L-W does what he does well - it just isn't (for the most part) to my taste. I did a lot of "temping" in various offices in the 1980s and I heard so many versions of "The Phantom of the Opera is now my mastermind" that I can happily go for the rest of my life without hearing it and songs of its ilk (same as I can do without the bird with a wobbly voice singing (though Mr Lloyd-Webber can't be blamed for this one) about heaven being a place on earth).
I'm with R. Waters on this one. We cower in our shelters, with our hands over our ears Lloyd Webber's awful stuff runs for years and years and years An earthquake hits the theatre, but the operetta lingers Then the piano lid comes down and breaks his f**k fingers It's a miracle
I haven't forgiven ALW for breaking his promise to emigrate if Tony Blair won the election all those years ago. Same for Paul Daniels. |
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Priscilla Censura
Posts : 2772 Join date : 2012-01-16
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 01 Feb 2016, 18:33 | |
| The reputation of sport further sullied by the discovery of a little engine in a racing bike..... and the lady racer said - in tears, of course... it was someone else's bike that looked just like hers. I reckon they ought check all poles used in vaulting - must be potential there. |
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PaulRyckier Censura
Posts : 4902 Join date : 2012-01-01 Location : Belgium
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 06 Feb 2016, 21:54 | |
| - Priscilla wrote:
- The reputation of sport further sullied by the discovery of a little engine in a racing bike..... and the lady racer said - in tears, of course... it was someone else's bike that looked just like hers. I reckon they ought check all poles used in vaulting - must be potential there.
Yes that Belgian girl after all that commotion about Molenbeek...We can't stay out of the news nowadays...even Italian maffia arrested today in Brussels... But after such an eventfull life Priscilla I suppose nothing can surprize you anymore ... And yes those of Volkswagen with their emission tricks...? Paul from the little Belgium. |
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PaulRyckier Censura
Posts : 4902 Join date : 2012-01-01 Location : Belgium
| Subject: Rant Sat 06 Feb 2016, 22:23 | |
| Watching yesterday one of the episodes of "The Story of China" Michael Wood on BBC2 stored on my TV from Thursday the 5th FEB as each Thursday. There was something new that was not available in the first episode... namely each time that Michael Wood spoke there was a woman in the right square under on the TV screen which dubbed it in sign language... after some time I got so enerved by the gesticulating woman in the view that I put a piece of paper with a sticker over the woman on my TV screen to be not disturbed anymore... I couldn't understand that deaf-and-dumbs couldn't read the subtitles as I did (with the 888 subtitle button...? Asking someone today if deaf-and-dumbs couldn't read and they didn't know it... Did some research on the web this evening on a Dutch language site of The Netherlands and it seems that: 0.5/1000 is deaf-and-dumb in The Netherlands and that they have only the reading capacity of a 10 years old if not intensively educated to learn to read... A bit less disturbed Paul...but can there not be a special "app" for these people to have only for them the gesticulating lady in the screen...? Sorry for the rant but eager for opinions...Paul. |
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nordmann Nobiles Barbariæ
Posts : 7223 Join date : 2011-12-25
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 06 Feb 2016, 23:59 | |
| What a remarkably unreconstructed view of deafness, Paul, that it assumes no power of speech either. I defer to your research concerning deaf people's literary skills, though my own personal experience is that 10 year olds in general exhibit quite a range of prowess regarding reading, and that some of them, who may be able to hear but admittedly can be less able to listen, also require a modicum of intensive education even to reach a rather basic level in that regard.
My own deaf friend (I do not practice a quota in that regard - that's just the amount I have at the moment) maintains that she can communicate and interpret well executed sign language quicker and to a far more nuanced degree than subtitles tend to deliver. Her own literary skills have exceeded the average 10 year old's for many years now, probably since she was about 10 years old in fact. |
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Gilgamesh of Uruk Censura
Posts : 1560 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 07 Feb 2016, 00:06 | |
| It is interesting, if in hindsight scarcely surprising, that when I was presented with a letter written by someone whose primary means of communication is BSL, that I was able to understand it with little trouble, but the different syntax and grammatical constructions did remind me forcibly of machine translation. I wonder to what extent the converse is true. |
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nordmann Nobiles Barbariæ
Posts : 7223 Join date : 2011-12-25
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 07 Feb 2016, 00:14 | |
| It is probably better classed as a dialect, rather than a language, and presents the same challenges regarding comprehension for both parties when the idioms, style and constructs employed by one dialect's practitioner are communicated to someone more accustomed to another dialect.
What amazes me often is the speed at which quite complex and nuanced information can be relayed with precision and correctly understood by conversationists using sign language. The vast majority of us reliant on hearing and speech would often struggle to match it using our preferred method of communication. |
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PaulRyckier Censura
Posts : 4902 Join date : 2012-01-01 Location : Belgium
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 07 Feb 2016, 18:13 | |
| Thank you very much for your explanation Nordmann. Kind regards, Paul. |
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PaulRyckier Censura
Posts : 4902 Join date : 2012-01-01 Location : Belgium
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 07 Feb 2016, 18:35 | |
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nordmann Nobiles Barbariæ
Posts : 7223 Join date : 2011-12-25
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 09:29 | |
| Paul - the term "deaf and dumb" is no longer considered either accurate or polite to use concerning people with impaired hearing. I know English is not your first language so I merely say this as a friendly pointer towards not causing unmeant offence should you accidentally use the term when communicating with someone for whom this matter is important. |
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Priscilla Censura
Posts : 2772 Join date : 2012-01-16
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 14:40 | |
| Half T erm
Here beginneth the first rant.
It being my birthday approx, family coming for a few days - the extra work, cooking etc not a bother.
But then today - Ha! I get an e-mail about Half term projects. "Because you are good at that sort of thing, Granma we each have to make some space model things - real ones like a space station, a rocket and other stuff." Yesterday I recycled all the boxes and containers I could find to make room for all the clobber they bring. My daughter - with 2 science degrees - is of no use whatsoever. She vaguely thinks a radio telescope has something to do with the BBC. (And possibly that a space station is on the Circle Line.) And now I find out that with all the other things they plan to do here (and nothing whatsoever to do with my birthday) I will have 2 hours for the entire project - and just hope their team is not on any sports channel. So Res Hist get saving for my new charirty 'Save The Grandparents.' I foresee an early admission into care. |
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ferval Censura
Posts : 2602 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 16:51 | |
| I might just join you there, P. In my case it's currently papier-mâché models for the Brownie 'Craftsperson' badge.
It's approx. my birthday too so many happy returns to us. |
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Priscilla Censura
Posts : 2772 Join date : 2012-01-16
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 17:12 | |
| Now papier-mache sounds like fun - could we swap grand children for a few days? So radio telescope dishes are now of square gauged mesh .....mm. Pity.... I could do black fish net. |
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ferval Censura
Posts : 2602 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 17:17 | |
| How about something like this from your friendly local Poundshop? Yes, it's quite fun but the newspaper and walpaper paste gets everywhere. |
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Gilgamesh of Uruk Censura
Posts : 1560 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 17:31 | |
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Last edited by Gilgamesh of Uruk on Mon 08 Feb 2016, 20:09; edited 1 time in total |
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Priscilla Censura
Posts : 2772 Join date : 2012-01-16
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 17:40 | |
| Now that looks fantastic - thanks, ferv. Post Imogen and pre J, I'll attempt a landing on Pounddsaver. I bet they won't have it. We have 5 chippies in this small town to cope with local demand - along with 26 eating places. No one seems to cook much here. Then I shall need silver paint for the sputnik and assorted tubes for the space station.
Are you moulding the p.m. over anything? It dries faster than solid stuff which takes an age; in the tropics we got interesting fungus mould with it also....... jus' sayin'......
God Save the Grandparents! |
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ferval Censura
Posts : 2602 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 17:50 | |
| We have to make two so started with the obvious - a piggy bank using a balloon and toilet roll centres. It's drying beside the hot water tank as I speak type. I await instructions as to the form of the second. |
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PaulRyckier Censura
Posts : 4902 Join date : 2012-01-01 Location : Belgium
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 08 Feb 2016, 20:49 | |
| - nordmann wrote:
- Paul - the term "deaf and dumb" is no longer considered either accurate or polite to use concerning people with impaired hearing. I know English is not your first language so I merely say this as a friendly pointer towards not causing unmeant offence should you accidentally use the term when communicating with someone for whom this matter is important.
Nordmann, thanks for the warning ...I pick it all up from sites here and there...perhaps old-fashioned ones...and if one is not in the current nowadays speaking...I read once in a trilogy about WWII of a well-known English writer, the name escapes me now, the word "breast" for the "breast" of a soldier...somenone said to not use it anymore because it got old-fashioned... Once in the South of France in a "café" I was speaking with the bar keeper about "négres"...the bar keeper said to not use it when a "noir" was in the surroundings otherwise I could have bad surprises...and although I am fluently in French and even fluent in the current language... But it is perhaps the fault of our dialect where we call the "things" as they are...for instance a "zothuis" (madhouse)...better to say a "psychiatric establishment"...although in our dialect one can't say anymore as before "neger" (nigger) but has to say "zwarte" (black one) or better "kleurling" (coloured one)... And yes warn me if I use some odd words here on the boards. Kind regards, Paul. |
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Dirk Marinus Consulatus
Posts : 300 Join date : 2016-02-03
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Tue 09 Feb 2016, 17:05 | |
| Paul,
There is a difference In the Southern and Central African countries between "zwarte" (black one" and "kleurling" (coloured one).
A coloured is the child of a black and a white person thus children of a coloured couple are therefore also considered to be coloured. And yes I have come across coloured people who were looking more European than many who were considered to be white. Of course there were some of whom it was difficult to tell if the were actually white or if they had had a lick with the tar brush ( in other words were they coloured?)
Actually another name (slang) for coloureds is Gamats especially around the Cape Town area and I have heard many times the expression Yellow Bellies
As a matter of fact in the past, and I believe even at the present is some of the Southern/Central African countries, on all official documentation was a section where one had to tick of to which race he/she belonged and there were /are 4 races : white (European), Asian, black and coloured.
Chinese and Japanese fell under the European race. |
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Gilgamesh of Uruk Censura
Posts : 1560 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Tue 09 Feb 2016, 20:04 | |
| Japanese were also classed as "honorary Aryans" by the Nazis. |
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Vizzer Censura
Posts : 1850 Join date : 2012-05-12
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Tue 09 Feb 2016, 22:38 | |
| - Dirk Marinus wrote:
- I have heard many times the expression Yellow Bellies
In England that's a nickname for someone from Lincolnshire. People from Yorkshire are sometimes called 'Tykes'. There was a brief period between 1974 and 1996 when there were even 'Yellow Tykes' when the artificial council of Humberside incorporated parts of Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire. |
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PaulRyckier Censura
Posts : 4902 Join date : 2012-01-01 Location : Belgium
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Wed 10 Feb 2016, 21:27 | |
| - Dirk Marinus wrote:
- Paul,
There is a difference In the Southern and Central African countries between "zwarte" (black one" and "kleurling" (coloured one).
A coloured is the child of a black and a white person thus children of a coloured couple are therefore also considered to be coloured. And yes I have come across coloured people who were looking more European than many who were considered to be white. Of course there were some of whom it was difficult to tell if the were actually white or if they had had a lick with the tar brush ( in other words were they coloured?)
Actually another name (slang) for coloureds is Gamats especially around the Cape Town area and I have heard many times the expression Yellow Bellies
As a matter of fact in the past, and I believe even at the present is some of the Southern/Central African countries, on all official documentation was a section where one had to tick of to which race he/she belonged and there were /are 4 races : white (European), Asian, black and coloured.
Chinese and Japanese fell under the European race. Thanks for the reply, Dirk. Yes, here too there is a difference between "zwarte" and "kleurling" the same as in South-Africa...but, perhaps influenced by the English, "nigger" and the French "négre", the Dutch/Flemish "neger" has nowadays also an offending connotation, although and you will remember it from your childhood in Groningen, the word "neger" in "our" time was neutral... Dirk as you still read Dutch some information from the web: http://www.taaltelefoon.be/zwarte-negerhttp://www.vrt.be/taal/neger-zwarteIn the Dutch-speaking fora I found all kind of opinions about the use of "zwarte" versus "neger". Have a look yourself. Kind regards, your friend Paul. PS: where is the time of my visit to your end of the Hadrian Wall... |
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Priscilla Censura
Posts : 2772 Join date : 2012-01-16
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Fri 19 Feb 2016, 17:55 | |
| Mmmmphf. A short half term break and instructions to make a space model with notes. So, a visit to the Science Museum having decided on a radio telescope for one and a sputnik for the other one. The Russian exhibition is excellent - not that the Russian guide was much use when i came to metric conversion of the 23" diameter in grandson's notes to metric, he reckoned 77mm.......The rest of their exhibits were fascinating and informative. Wish I could say the same of much of the Science museum. For instance, there was no mention of Radio telescopes - and when I asked a guide, he said it was too modern for the museum. I protested and mentioned the Lovell Joderell Bank telescope of the '50's of 100m diameter, being of great importance at the time, he said there were no Bank sponsored exhibits of that kind and followed that with ." er, which bank did you say, I've never heard of that one." The museum was packed but too many vast open spaces.... what the media space area (empty of visitors) was on about was not at all clear - the work a few photographers not well displayed. The area for time had a large collection of fancy clocks which should have been in the V and A because we could only see the cases - if the workings were unique there was no indication. But there was no ' Progressive History of Measuring Time,' for instance where I think there would be great scope to show sun dial and such models etc A huge display of fancy pocket watches is dull and as set out, uninformative - and boring. Children probably learned more science from the stuff in the shop - which was crowded and doing great business. I was expecting so much more. I was very disappointed. |
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LadyinRetirement Censura
Posts : 3324 Join date : 2013-09-16 Location : North-West Midlands, England
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Fri 19 Feb 2016, 18:42 | |
| - Vizzer wrote:
- Dirk Marinus wrote:
- I have heard many times the expression Yellow Bellies
In England that's a nickname for someone from Lincolnshire. People from Yorkshire are sometimes called 'Tykes'. There was a brief period between 1974 and 1996 when there were even 'Yellow Tykes' when the artificial council of Humberside incorporated parts of Yorkshire and parts of Lincolnshire. Oh I know a transplanted Yorkshire lady who always said she was from whatever Riding of Yorkshire the north bank of the Humber was in even while "Humberside" was a "county".* Sorry, I can't be a***d to look up which Riding it is - I know there's no South Riding because a riding is an obsolete word for a third (unless the person who told me that was "trolling" me). When I was a kid people would say "Yer yeller" (you are yellow) if they were accusing someone of being cowardly. I don't know what the origin of that is - could it have anything to do with jaundice? Not that hepatitis necessarily makes one lacking in courage - but colloquially the condition known as jaundice is sometimes called "yellow jaundice" which, of course, is tautologous. I can still hear my late mother's voice "There's no such thing as yellow jaundice" when I used the term. * Much like a lady from the New Brighton side of the Mersey thanked her lucky stars that her nan had not lived to see the northern part of the Wirral (in Cheshire) become known as Merseyside. I think it's back to being North Wirral or Cheshire now. |
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normanhurst Triumviratus Rei Publicae Constituendae
Posts : 426 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 20 Feb 2016, 01:23 | |
| i need to rant... rant a lot, so I'll do it here as there's not so many peeps come here... its a lot of rants actually but I'll stick to the two that bust my gut more than the rest... and the first is peoples addresses.
I've just driven up to Birmingham to collect three items i 'won' on an eBay auction...
i have a satnav so i programmed the address into the thing and stuck it on my windscreen... there was no house number... just a name of a house. the next best thing after that was the postcode, but that's still not an exact science and can and is often wrong...
well the closest i got the first time was 10 miles... then after scouring the streets looking for this f*&@$£ing house i gave up and found a postmen to ask... so... his directions got me to 6 miles of the f***** house, and could i find a policeman to ask... i considered smashing a window to bring them out to me... it turns out there are 4 streets in Birmingham with the same name... indeed where i lived for 36 years in Poole my road had 4 other locations and my mail was always going astray... it was only when i began my taxi company i realised there was actually 10 other roads with the same name... and it was also when i started my taxi company, and driving around in the badly lit streets in the hissing rain, i realised just how many addresses were blessed not with a house number, but an effing name.... rant beginning to build up now... do these assholes that think they're too posh to be normal and have a house number realise how frustrating it is to have to search the front gates and walls looking for a house name that's not been painted in years, overgrown with moss and lichen or on the front door of a house with a drive a half mile long... i vote they be stood against the wall and shot... and what about the emergency services looking for some granny that's drawing her last... while the ambulance has cruised past a dozen times...
i don't agree with a lot of local bylaws and the idea of a nanny state but... there ought to be legislation that every address has a standard sized and coloured number where it can be clearly seen as close to the road as possible.... and that it can be read at night.
and another thing... litter thrown from cars... anyone found littering fast food boxes onto the highways should irrespective of status spend a week in work party clearing up the highways verges... in a uniform that clearly marks them out to be litterers and face the shame.
people that don't dip their main beams at night to oncoming vehicles ae a pain as well... they should not be allowed to drive at night either... for a specific time. |
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Meles meles Censura
Posts : 5119 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : Pyrénées-Orientales, France
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 20 Feb 2016, 08:54 | |
| You have my sympathy Norm, although actually I don't have a house number myself, just a name, and the road doesn't even have a name, at least not one on any signs or maps ... but I do have a series of large panels at each junction to show the route all the way from the first turning off the A road directly after leaving the nearest town (10kms away) as well as directions and a Google Earth map within my website.
What gets me are the people who phone or email and to whom I give detailed instructions (basically just to follow my panels) who then get lost because they insist on using their GPS. They often arrive at a point up a narrow dirt track just 100m from the house, but on the other side of a 50m deep ravine! And they usually then say, "Oh yes we saw all your panels but we ignored them because the GPS said different."
Did you finally get you ebay stuff? |
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Gilgamesh of Uruk Censura
Posts : 1560 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 20 Feb 2016, 15:06 | |
| I used to live in a road where there were no numbers, too, just names. Lethal for deliverers, because the only source of info, the electoral roll, was alphabetic by voter name. We finally compiled a list, running from end to end of the road, and lodged it behind the bar at the local pub. Visitors were recommended to call there and peruse the list. More seriously, one of the roads in the area I used to represent as a councillor was split in two, with just 4 houses not accessible from the "obvious" end off the main road. A constituent of mine died because the ambulance crew were unable to find her house in time. Finally that persuaded the council to re-name that end of the street, and put up street name signs. I'd been trying to get them to do that for 7 years. |
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ferval Censura
Posts : 2602 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 20 Feb 2016, 15:31 | |
| Ah but yesterday I had a delivery due, the courier phoned to check I was in then half an hour phoned again to say he had chapped my door but there was no reply. I asked where he was, he said he was at no. 45. I'm 45A so I opened my door and there he was, standing about 3 m. above my head at the top of the steps leading to upstair's front door and apparently oblivious to the steps beside him leading down to mine. |
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Gilgamesh of Uruk Censura
Posts : 1560 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sat 20 Feb 2016, 20:58 | |
| Well, where I live, 86 is one end of the street, next door to 121, and 86a is the other end ......
Mind you, a nearby "town" uses the "distance method" of numbering. Absolutely horrible to deliver. |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 15:05 | |
| I have come back from a "Mothering Sunday" service - held, not at my local parish church, but at a larger, more "up-to-date" gathering. I am appalled at what I have witnessed today. The lack of sensitivity was beyond belief.
When did this Sunday become yet another opportunity for commercial exploitation and, like Christmas, for those who are blessed enough to have happy family lives to indulge in a huge schadenfreudefest at the expense of others less fortunate?
Mothers and grandmothers at this service were invited to come forward to receive little bunches of flowers - an apparently charming idea - except that it left several women who did not "qualify" in tears, and a fair few others - who did not cry - coping with steely stoicism.
I mentioned afterwards that it would perhaps be best next year to play all this down a bit - to remember that there are many women who have been unable to have children, women who have lost children, or women who have never had good relationships with their mothers - or with their daughters. Blank looks. The answer, I was told, is simply to stay away - which is fair enough, I suppose. |
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Meles meles Censura
Posts : 5119 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : Pyrénées-Orientales, France
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 15:32 | |
| - Temperance wrote:
- I have come back from a "Mothering Sunday" service ...
When did this Sunday become yet another opportunity for commercial exploitation and, like Christmas, for those who are blessed enough to have happy family lives to indulge in a huge schadenfreudefest at the expense of others less fortunate?
I too always thought it was a modern, commercial, money-grubbing (or at least for the C of E, a bums-on-seats opportunity) and generally a popular gimmick ... but apparently not, or at least not so clearly as I had supposed. See my dish-of-the-day post regarding Simnal cakes ... relating to which there's this bit of 'traditional' monetary commercialism dating from well over 150 years ago: Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Wednesday 5 April 1848. |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 15:48 | |
| Oh, don't get me wrong, MM; I am all for cakes and ale, but not for insensitivity.
But then you, I am sure, have cause for a hollow laugh or two at that from the likes of me... |
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Meles meles Censura
Posts : 5119 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : Pyrénées-Orientales, France
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 15:54 | |
| Well yes indeed, I do exactly understand what you mean. It doesn't sound very Christian ... although I'm afraid it does sound typical of all those shiney, smiley, slimey, smug, evangelical, happy-clappy, nauseating, newly born-again 'Christians'.
Last edited by Meles meles on Sun 06 Mar 2016, 16:22; edited 1 time in total |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 16:19 | |
| Gulp. Here, have a glass of what I'm drinking: Amarone Della Valpolicella 2012 - Italian, not French, I'm afraid, but won a Silver Medal at some wine competition or other. I'm sorry, MM - really. How you must hate us all - and with good reason. I'm not shiney or happy-clappy de tout - au moins, j'espere bien que non. Perhaps that's my problem. Can't put the grave or acute e on espere or anything else - if I use the alt key the whole message disappears.
Last edited by Temperance on Mon 07 Mar 2016, 07:31; edited 1 time in total |
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Meles meles Censura
Posts : 5119 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : Pyrénées-Orientales, France
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 16:33 | |
| I do not "hate you all" by any means ... but I am at times slightly bewildered by "you all". I thought religion was supposed to give order, certainty, comfort and spiritual tranquility to a person. Even I acknowledged those as benefits of religion on Priscilla's thread. But frankly all I usually see, even amongst the most devout and faithful, is anguish, uncertainty, doubt, fear and quite often unhappiness. But It's your choice after all. Although, hey, Mother's day or not, I'm still up for some Valpolicella, ..... even if it isn't French. .
Last edited by Meles meles on Sun 06 Mar 2016, 16:38; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : crossed posts with Nordo) |
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nordmann Nobiles Barbariæ
Posts : 7223 Join date : 2011-12-25
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 16:35 | |
| - Meles meles wrote:
- But frankly all I usually see, even amongst the most devout and faithful, is anguish, uncertainty, doubt, fear and quite often unhappiness.
And they're the nice ones, MM. The ones who don't exhibit these traits are definitely the ones to be wary of - very wary indeed! |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 18:49 | |
| - Meles meles wrote:
- But frankly all I usually see, even amongst the most devout and faithful, is anguish, uncertainty, doubt, fear and quite often unhappiness.
I agree - but are those uncomfortable descriptors not relevant for us all - whatever our belief - or lack of belief? The ones to be "wary" of - in my experience at least - are those who will not acknowledge the truth of your sadly accurate abstract nouns to sum up the human condition. Anguish, uncertainty, doubt and fear - oh yes, and unhappiness - are not merely the lot of those who try to be "Christian" - whatever that silly word means. Aren't they true for us all? But alcohol is a great help - for the believers and all you others, n'est-ce-pas? |
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ferval Censura
Posts : 2602 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 19:03 | |
| Oh Temp, that's dreadful.The Church can mix stomach churning sentimentality with quite vicious cruelty in a way unmatched by almost any other organisation.
As it happens I have just returned from a weekend in Oban with the daughter and granddaughter, we'd booked ages ago without realising what weekend this was, and that's always an interesting mix - one assertive (very!), one more passive aggressive and one skilfully manipulative spread across 3 generations. No blood or tears shed so it should be considered a success but even for the non-religious I find there's always a faint whiff of guilt/dissatisfaction/embarrassment hanging about around the Mother's Day lark. So here's to all those who care for someone or something, be they male or female. That is worth celebrating and not just one day a year and not in a welter of cheap commercial tat. I'll raise a glass of your Valpolicello to that. |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 19:13 | |
| Thank you, ferval. Te es un oeuf tres bon, je crois.
Last edited by Temperance on Mon 07 Mar 2016, 07:32; edited 1 time in total |
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Meles meles Censura
Posts : 5119 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : Pyrénées-Orientales, France
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 19:16 | |
| Nicely put Ferval .... and I'll raise a glass too, to friendship, to family, to conviviality, and, as ever just to basic humanity ... .... only, errr, the Valpolicella seems to be running a tad dry... - Temperance wrote:
- But alcohol is a great help - for the believers and all you others, n'est-ce-pas?
Bien sûr, indeed, tout à fait, yes, oui d'accord ... and didn't our Lord at Cana, turn water into wine, rather than visa versa? So why's my beaker still empty? |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 19:41 | |
| He did indeed and He never fails us - whatever him indoors (nordo) says. Behold! Here's another bottle of that excellent Italian stuff. Fill ton beaker to the brim, MM - and ferval too. Gosh, I'm drunk. I'm going to regret all this in the morning...
Last edited by Temperance on Mon 07 Mar 2016, 07:36; edited 1 time in total |
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ferval Censura
Posts : 2602 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Sun 06 Mar 2016, 19:44 | |
| Temperance wrote: But alcohol is a great help - for the believers and all you others, n'est-ce-pas?
Hmmm, I'm not so sure, I suspect it was being circumspect with the alcohol that may have avoided the blood and tears this weekend. We have previous. The veritas (what ever that is) in the vino can be just a bit too uninhibited. |
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Temperance Virgo Vestalis Maxima
Posts : 6895 Join date : 2011-12-30 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Mon 07 Mar 2016, 07:51 | |
| What a load of self-pitying drivel I was spouting yesterday - sorry about that, folks. Don't feel too bad this morning actually, which is remarkable. It was an extremely decent wine.
Right, upwards and onwards yet again - sort of. |
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normanhurst Triumviratus Rei Publicae Constituendae
Posts : 426 Join date : 2011-12-27
| Subject: Re: The Daily Rant Thu 21 Apr 2016, 11:09 | |
| i had no idea that with the advancement of years one easily slips into becoming a grumpy old bast&@d eager to gripe on an on about nothing in particular but finding having a right good old 'bitch' about anything can give such a daily pleasure to an otherwise uneventful day.
and today's 'bitch' is... teapots and jugs but especially kettles. what is it with designers of today that nothing pours from one container to another without a spout that serves its purpose... having spent months cursing my old electric kettle, and the one before that... and the one before that... my new one is just as useless... pouring its boiling contents into the teapot is like pi&*ing in the wind... now if the kettle was manufactured from metal i could have refashioned the spout by beating it with the array of hammers from my toolbox and with a good grunt swinging on the end of a pair of stilsons enough of a twist to the end of the spout to direct the liquid downwards, clear of the kettle and into whatever i wish to pour it into... but i cant do that coz its plastic... god sakes... whoever designs these things needs standing against a wall and shooting... |
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