Driving Through
Posted: Wed 7 August, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Driving, People, Thoughts, Weirdness 2 Comments »My local supermarket is on a small(ish) retail estate, and there’s also a McDonalds in the area, with a full “drivethrough” (sorry, “drivethru” *spitting noise*) option. Every time I go past it, there’s something that boggles my brain.
I don’t understand the drive-through option. Well, that’s not true – there’s one particular aspect of drivethrough behaviour that I really don’t understand. I get the whole “grab food while driving, and continue going” concept, that’s fine. For now we’ll gloss over the whole road-safety aspect – after all, if it’s dangerous to use a mobile phone while driving, surely it’s equally dangerous to be eating a messy burger – but I get the concept.
What I don’t get though, are the people who use the drive-through, and then park up to eat their ‘food’. What’s the reasoning? If you’re going to do that, surely it’s just as easy to take a proper break, go inside, sit at a table, eat, and then leave to go back on the road.
What’s the logical process for getting food, and then sitting right outside the premises (I refuse to call it a restaurant, sorry) to eat them?
Yet every time I drive past, there they are – people doing exactly that. They’ve bought at a drive-through, and now they’re sat in the car park to eat it. It truly makes my brain bleed.
Body-Image and Vanity
Posted: Thu 1 August, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Health, People, Television, Thoughts, Weight Loss 1 Comment »On Channel4 this week there was a really good documentary(ish) with Alex Brooker about male body image, called “My Perfect Body”
It’s interesting to see how the perception of men’s bodies has changed over the last few years, and particularly a lot of men’s self-perception of their bodies, and particularly the assertions that a man isn’t ‘successful’ if they’re overweight, don’t have a six-pack stomach, etc. etc. In a lot of ways I think the programme was right, that a lot of men do ‘value’ themselves by way of their bodies, and that this is (at least to a degree) related to advertising/marketing, and those images of male perfection.
The other interesting side to it was about male vanity, and the surge in male grooming, ‘metrosexuality’, and even how male groups react to each others bodies; the basic answer being that men are (in many ways) bitchier to their friends than women are to their friends.
Personally, the whole vanity thing isn’t something I’ve ever been prone to. Yes, I currently want to lose some weight – but that’s more for health reasons and the like, rather than wanting to be thin/’successful’/’desireable’ and all that pap. Realistically, I’ll never be some 14-stone super-fitty, and honestly I don’t want to be.
I find it fascinating how the whole ‘group think’ perception seems to work, but I’m pretty immune to it. I wonder sometimes if that’s because I’ve never really had a whole group of male mates, and never been inculcated into that type of setup. I don’t know.
I’m not going to worry about it – part of my whole self-image/self-perception is probably more easily described as “This is me. Like it, don’t like it. Your choice”. In general, I’ve always found that seems to be a fairly healthy self-image, and it certainly causes me a lot less stress than a lot of people in the documentary…
Children and Racism
Posted: Thu 25 July, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Charm School, People Leave a comment »This video is really interesting…
Basically, Cheerios released an advert in America that featured a multi-racial relationship, and – unsurprisingly – a lot of people complained about it. The video below shows the ads, and then the reactions of some young children to it, and to the ‘controversy’.
If nothing else, it gives us some hope for the future, where America will possibly become less racist.
Pulling Out
Posted: Tue 23 July, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Commuting, Driving, People, Stupidity 2 Comments »On my route to work – in particular, although I’ve noticed this phenomenon in many road/junction situations – there are a couple of junctions from which people can pull out onto the main roads, which are (of course) much faster.
I’ve noticed of late that there seem to be a significant number of drivers who either don’t look before pulling out, or look but who are incapable of actually judging the speed of oncoming vehicles. To whit, my oncoming vehicle.
I’ve actually lost count of the number of times this year where I’ve been hacking down the main road at 60, and these ball-bags just pull out in front of me, necessitating my needing to significantly slow down.
Even worse, they pull out and then just pootle along at 20 or 30 mph. I know it takes time to get up to speed – but seriously, so should they. And if you’re going to do a manoeuvre like that, you damn well make sure that you’re going to be speeding up in pretty fucking short order. (Well, I do!)
I don’t understand the logic (or lack thereof) in doing this, of pulling out in front of someone who’s already on the main road. All I can assume is that it’s either a) some innate need to be ‘first’, even if that means running the risk of being killed, b) they’re wanting an accident which would be “not their fault” in order to claim and replace their vehicle, c) an arrogance that their driving will force the other driver to slow down, d) they’re just fuckwit bastards, or e) all of the above.
Regardless, it just pisses me off.
Reaping What’s Been Sown
Posted: Sun 14 July, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, Parking, People Leave a comment »Tonight, I’m enjoying a dose of schadenfreude (“enjoying the misfortune of others”, if you didn’t know)
Yesterday morning, an idiot parked up in a big-ass Mercedes in the pub car park opposite where I live. And left their parking light on. I don’t know where they’re staying – the pub doesn’t have rooms, so really they’re just taking the piss anyway. So the parking light has stayed on while they’ve been staying wherever.
Now they’ve come back to the car – parked up for 36 hours in a commercial(ish) car park, parking light on – to discover that a) they have a parking ticket, and b) their battery is flat, the car won’t start, and they’ve had to call the AA. (I don’t know for sure, but I assume that the AA will charge as well, as it’s down to driver idiocy.) Of course, because their car is safe, off the road, and not in any feasible danger, it’s right at the bottom of the priority list.
All told, I’m finding it very hard to be sympathetic to their plight, and may in fact be chuckling quite a lot.
And yes – I know I’m going to reap something on this myself, so by the end of the week expect me to be saying something about a broken car.
Not What They Meant
Posted: Thu 11 July, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Media, Pedantry, People, Writing Leave a comment »Today in the EDP (well, on their website at least) there’s this headline
Murdered Wisbech pensioner’s niece makes emotional appeal six months after she was brutally stabbed to death and set on fire
Now, you know they mean “Niece makes emotional appeal six months after her pensioner aunt was brutally stabbed and set on fire“, but that’s not what it actually says.
So instead I’m going to be impressed at the moral strength of someone so distraught that she can make an appeal about a pensioner six months after being brutally stabbed and set on fire.
Yes, yes, I’m a bad person.
Independence Today
Posted: Thu 4 July, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, Cynicism, Thoughts 2 Comments »It’s July 4th, which means America is celebrating Independence Day.
Personally, I’ve never understood why the UK never celebrates Independence Day too, as “The day we got rid of that pestilential colony”.
Mind you, I’ve also always thought we should make more of the voyage of the Mayflower, and celebrate that initial migration of Puritans to their new land of hope and glory.