Naming
Posted: Mon 16 July, 2012 Filed under: 1BEM, People Leave a comment »Yesterday, I witnessed one of the funniest conversations I’ve ever heard…
I went down to the village shop, and while waiting in line at the till, the guy in front was getting served. The guy behind the till was doing all the talking
“Hi Paul, what can I get you?”
“The blue ones down on the left Paul, yeah?”
“Thanks, Paul, that’ll be [Whatever the amount was]”
By this time, even I was thinking “Yeah, OK, pal, you know the guy’s name. Fuck sake”
Guy hands over the money
“Thanks Paul, see you again soon”
“It’s Dave.”
I just about killed myself with laughter.
Olympic Links
Posted: Sat 14 July, 2012 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, London Olympics, People, Thoughts 5 Comments »Lord, this is becoming a theme, isn’t it?
Another item in the long list of stupid bullshit that the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics are doing.
In this case, it’s an example of how draconian organisations really don’t understand complex concepts like Freedom of Speech, or t’Internet.
In London2012’s Terms of Use for the website, it says this…
5.a. Links to the Site. You may create your own link to the Site, provided that your link is in a text-only format. You may not use any link to the Site as a method of creating an unauthorised association between an organisation, business, goods or services and London 2012, and agree that no such link shall portray us or any other official London 2012 organisations (or our or their activities, products or services) in a false, misleading, derogatory or otherwise objectionable manner. The use of our logo or any other Olympic or London 2012 Mark(s) as a link to the Site is not permitted. View our guidelines on Use of the Games’ Marks.
(Bold emphasis is my own).
Yep, that’s right. You can’t link to the London 2012 Olympics website if you’re going to say nasty things about them.
Which is pretty fucking ridiculous, when you think about it.
Indeed, the links in this post almost certainly break those Terms. Ah well. Luckily the European Human Rights Act still allows me to say that in my opinion this kind of policy from the London Olympics is draconian bullshit.
Communal Spirt – Or Lack Thereof
Posted: Wed 4 July, 2012 Filed under: Domestic, People, Thoughts 1 Comment »Where I live now, the arrangements for the bins are a bit awkward. (You can tell this post’s going to be interesting, can’t you?) Basically, it’s a row of terraced houses- almost like a throwback to Manchester days – with an alleyway at the back connecting them all. The bins are stored in a communal hidey-hole roughly mid-way down the terrace. I’m at one end of the row, the street-access is at the other end.
However, it seems like no-one actually puts those bins out. The bin collection men certainly do fuck-all with them – I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by that, anyway. But equally, no-one from the row of houses does anything with them – rubbish goes in, but the bins don’t go out.
So at the moment I seem to have taken on the role, making sure they go out in time, the right bins on the right day, and all that crap. I don’t actually mind, it’s just one of those things, but it does sort of annoy me that (as with many things) there seems to be this perception of always “Oh, someone else will do it”.
In this case, they will. It’s probably a selfish thing, just making sure that my rubbish gets dealt with in a timely and non-stinky manner, as I’ve no intention of having to deal with vermin issues and the like. But I do think it’s sad that communal bins aren’t dealt with in a communal way.
Maybe I’m just more idealistic than I’d thought.
Removing Bridges
Posted: Mon 2 July, 2012 Filed under: Change, Commuting, Driving, People 2 Comments »Over the weekend, the M1 near me (well, my entire commuting route) was closed to facilitate the removal of a bridge that is now un-used. It’s all part of the works on that stretch of the M1, and I’ve been watching as it all changes. Luckily I wasn’t going on that road over the weekend, or the detour would’ve been impressive.
The new bridge opened in May, and the last month has been spent removing all the sliproads to the old bridge, leaving it all isolated. By Friday they’d got rid of everything except the span of the bridge crossing the M1. And this morning, it’s completely gone, including the centre stanchions, and the massive block they stood on. It’s actually pretty impressive, seeing the speed it must have been demolished and removed.
Indeed, if you went past it for the first time today, you’d never really know there’d been a bridge there at all. There are no indicators of its existence at all.
Personally, I think the new junction is currently quite dangerous, although I think that’s also heavily related to the fact that people driving to the 50mph average speed limit turn into complete fuckwits. We’ll see how it works out as time goes on, the roadworks are removed, and normality fights to re-assert itself again.
Reverse Parking
Posted: Sat 23 June, 2012 Filed under: 1BEM, Driving, Parking, People, Shopping, Thoughts 2 Comments »When visiting the local supermarket – I’m not going to specify, because this set of thoughts are location-independent, having seen the same thing at at least six places – I’m always bemused by a certain parking style.
No, this isn’t YPLAC (You Park Like A Cunt) – for once – but it’s something just as bizarre. And I’m going to phrase it as a question
If they’re going to a supermarket, and doing their weekly/monthly big shop, why the FUCK do these people reverse into parking spaces ? I always see at least one per visit where they’re then faced with real issues when it comes to putting that shopping into the boot of the car.
I just don’t understand the logic – or maybe the lack thereof – that goes into this. I do get that some people don’t like reversing out of a space, although I’ve no idea why. Personally, I think reversing in to a space is far more prone to being visited by the Fuck-Up Fairy, but there we go. Still, personal choice, and all that shite.
But for loading shopping into a car, it seems like it just makes things so much harder when you’ve reversed into the space, rather than going in forwards, and leaving the boot of the car out in the open, so you can just lift’n’load.
People are, to be sure, weird.
Food Origins
Posted: Fri 15 June, 2012 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Education, People, Stupidity, Thoughts Leave a comment »I’ve known for a while about how some people don’t know where their food comes from – but even so, this particular story is pretty shocking.
Basically, in a poll of 2000 people by LEAF “Linking Environment and Farming” – although I can’t currently find mention of this poll on their site – 33% of young adults aged between 16 and 23 were unaware of where eggs come from – and 11% answered that eggs are produced from wheat or maize.
Additionally, 36% of the same age group failed to answer that bacon comes from pigs, while 40% did not know that cows produce milk.
Now it might be that one third of the sample were thick as mince, but all the same, it’s pretty scary.
Mind you, I’ve also known of people who
- when asked where chicken/beef/pork come from, answer “Tesco”
- didn’t know that chicken (the meat) comes from chicken (the bird) – I’ve seen that one myself
So I’m not too surprised, but all the same, it’s pretty depressing. My parents always taught my brother and I where food came from – to the extent that my brother used to refer to animals by the condiments that went with them : Cows = Horseradish. Lamb = Mint Sauce. Pigs = Apple Sauce.
Mind you, still no-one really knows what meat goes into kebabs, or just where on a chicken creates McNuggets…