Icy Windows
Posted: Thu 15 January, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Driving, Thoughts 1 Comment »Now that all the ice and crap has finally thawed again, I’m reminded of something I meant to write a week ago. The subject is simple – iced up car windows.
Over the week or so of consistently cold weather, I found it quite gobsmacking just how many people were out on the roads driving with only a tiny patch of scraped windscreen to see through, while leaving the rest to melt of its own accord. Partly because it’s illegal (if memory serves, you’re supposed to make sure all the windows are scraped/clear before you set off – The Highway Code certainly says so) and partly because it’s – well – incredibly fucking stupid.
Additionally, it doesn’t really take up that much time/effort. For me, the entire process involved simply opening the car, starting it up so that the heater was working and warming things from the inside, and going round with a scraper. By the time I’d done all four side windows, the heated windscreen and rear-windscreen had done their job, and the entire thing was ready to go in about five minutes. (at most)
Now yes, I know that I live out in The Sticks™, so leaving the engine running while scraping the windows isn’t likely to result in an incident like this one. Being outside and scraping the car also means I don’t leave it unattended and then come back to find it’s been nicked. (and let’s be honest, that should just be filed under “Idiot Tax”)
But my point is that it doesn’t take much effort to go round scraping the car’s windows. And personally I’d rather make that effort than either get pulled over by the police for dangerous driving (which I think is the correct charge for driving with non-clear windows) or be involved in an accident where the insurance then refuses to pay out because it could be seen as my fault for not seeing [whatever was collided with] because my windows were still iced over.
Chilly
Posted: Tue 13 January, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism Leave a comment »Just a thought : Isn’t it odd how you never see the police out with their “hair-dryer” speed guns when it’s cold or wet outside?
Masterchef – Deja Vu
Posted: Tue 13 January, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Memory, Thoughts 1 Comment »In similar vein to this post from last year, it’s worth pointing out that Masterchef is back on BBC2 again.
And still the contestants drive me potty with all the guff about “[Tristan] is aiming to change jobs, and go from being a stockbroker to living his dream by cooking”. No-one says “Well why don’t you fucking try it out properly first?” or “Wouldn’t it be an idea to cook for more than yourself?“. One bell-end last week claimed that he wanted to open “something like the Manoir, a restaurant with rooms” – I think he went out at the end of the first round, for doing something a) dull or b) raw. After a while they all blend into one, I’m afraid.
The judges don’t do much for me either. Both John Torode and Greg Wallace come across as pompous prats – although some of that could be the scripting too – but if I hear them saying “They’re doing a meal they’ve never cooked before. In a semi-final! Shocking!” I’ll just spit.
Yet I still watch the damn thing – even though a good 40% of it drives me crackers. (On this point, Sky+ is a godsend – it’s great being able to fast-forward through the repetition, ‘discussion’ of who stays in etc., and all the intermediate Pop Idol/X-Factor guff of contestants calling home to say they got through etc.) I find the ideas people have are interesting, the pro-kitchens can be interesting – and/or make me think “I would never go there to eat” – and the execution of the ideas and recipes is something I do enjoy watching. I’ve always been in awe of the people who can go to a kitchen cupboard and just pick five or six items and put them together, knowing that they’ll work out as a good meal. My mum could do that easily, Herself can do so too, and so can other friends but to me it’s just an awesome talent that I simply don’t possess.
I can cook – but I need a recipe, or some kind of inspiration to work from. Sometimes when watching Masterchef I can come up with what I’d do with the selection of ingredients on offer, but for me it’s more a memory thing, something I’ve seen in another magazine or recipe book. But I know I don’t have the knowledge – more accurately, the inbuilt/memorised knowledge – of the necessary methods in order to get to that final result.
Racist Terms
Posted: Sun 11 January, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Offensive Repetition, Weirdness 9 Comments »Of all the things that annoy me about the story of Prince Harry using a racially insulting term (no less than three years ago) is that the media then seems to use it as an excuse for repeating and publicising the same term ad infinitum.
The BBC story linked to above uses it, and the ITV News story I saw a few minutes ago on it used the same term no less than three times within the story.
So how does the media explain how they can get away with it when they’re reporting how offensive it is for someone else to use the term?