War thought

I’ve been trying to avoid blethering on about the war for the most part, because many other people are doing it far better than I can – but the more I see stories about the US and UK getting ready for a long war rrather than the short hyper-war they bollocksed on about beforehand the more I wonder if this isn’t going to be the Vietnam of the ’00s.

Lesser of evils

I’m not sure what’s scarier about this story about many children losing their virginity at the age of 11 or so – whether it’s that sex seems to rear it’s head earlier and earlier, or the stunning lack of knowledge on the part of those interviewed.

More than 50 percent “didn’t know that wearing condoms can prevent HIV“, and 10 percent “think that HIV can be passed on via kissing“. Looks like there’s still a long way to go on the education front then.

Unlucky? I think not

And in the news today, Brighton’s West Pier is burning. In the last six months this pier has had two collapses, and is now burning away merrily. Anyone would think it had some enemies or something…

Recorded Delivery

While I was at work yesterday, I got a card through the door from Royal Mail saying that they’d tried to deliver a package, no-one had been there to sign for it, so I’d have to get it from the sorting office. Bit of a bummer, but no worries – I can do it on the way in to work.

So today, I get down to the sorting office, and sign for the – envelope? Hang on, that’s not what I was expecting – if anything, it was going to be a DVD or two. But an envelope? What the feck?

Upon opening it (I was curious, OK?) it turns out to be a ticket for a concert I’m seeing. Nothing expensive – the ticket’s face value is only six quid. I paid £7ish for it from TicketMaster, I think, what with the dodgy booking fee shite we all know and love. Tet it’s cost half that face value to send it out recorded delivery – weird.

Car Junk

For some reason I was obviously slightly more conscious than usual this morning, so on the way into the city, I was looking out of the bus window, and a couple of things struck me. (Not literally – we’re talking about ideas, not physical objects)

First of all – why do so many people have so much junk in their cars? As they went past, I could see cuddly toys, fluffy things, nodding cows (Quite cool cows, but all the same), what can only be described as wicker-ware, ornaments, gadgets and general crap of all varieties/sizes/breeds. Why? All it seems to do is block up the windows and so on, and become a distracting influence. Then again, people seem to do the same thing to their desks at work, “personalising” their space with toys and so on – but when everyone does it (Or even the majority do it) then it becomes commonplace, and hardly personalised at all. I love the way expressions of individuality all blend into one homogenised object, normally known as “clutter”.

And Second – what’s the point of having “Baby on Board” (Or, as I saw today, a “Little Person on Board” one) stickers on windows? I always thought they were initially there in case of an emergency, to help rescue workers etc. know if there were more than one person in a car. But now they seem to be pretty ubiquitous – plus the search techniques and technology is far better now anyway.

So what’s the point of them? The car I saw today with one of these stickers on it had a baby seat in, but there wasn’t even a child in there – so the bloody thing wasn’t even on board. Is it just an advertisement, a statement of “Yes, I’m a parent – aren’t you pleased for me?” broody mawkishness? Is it just something to say “Yes, I’ve had sex at some point in my life”?

Seriously – what’s the point of these things?

For Fucks Sake

First of all, i should point out that I don’t drive. Not banned, not disqualified from driving – it’s just one of those things I never got round to. I’d like to get it sorted this year, because I’ve been made to realise that it would make life easier in certain areas.

Because of this, I notice a piece in the Guardian that’s detailing how the UK driving test is about to get harder. As of 1st September, as well as everything else, it’s also now going to require some knowledge of things like how to change the oil, check tyre pressures and so on.

I can sort of see the point in this – but not by much. OK, it can be useful to know how to check the oil and so on, but surely a far more life-threatening occurrence (not just for the driver, but for anyone in the vicinity) is a car skidding on ice/oil/any other shit on the roads? Yet that’s not an integral part of the test – most people never learn how to deal with skids until they’re in one, at which point it’s too late.

Personally, I think that a lot of this has to do with the Government’s pledge to get more people off the roads and using public transport. Unfortunately, as with so many Governmental directives, it’s completely arse-about-face. Yes, training people to be better drivers is A Good Thing. However, it doesn’t get people off the roads. A far better plan for getting people off the roads would be a re-test every five years that had to be passed in order to keep driving. Far too many people simply pass their driving tests, then decide they need never learn another thing about driving – the results of which are visible on every road in the country.

Anna’s Lists

Anna says she was sober when she came up with a list of differences between roses and spoons. I’m not so sure…