27 August 2009

Daily Chat 27/08/09


The marriage of Henry the Young King and Margaret of France took place on this day in 1172. Oil was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859, leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well. The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought on this day in 1896, between 9:00 and 9:45 a.m. The Zanzibari forces suffered 500 casualties. One British sailor was injured. In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed by fifteen nations. There were 61 signatory nations by the time the pact took force in 1929.

Celebrating birthdays: Antonia Fraser, PeeWee Herman and Deco. It is Independence Day in Moldova.

125 comments:

  1. A bit weird, I suppose, to thank people for thanking you, but I will: Thanks for all the nice comments yesterday. I really enjoy doing this and I'm pleased every day by the fact that it took off. When I put the place together in February, I expected it to be history by now. On the WDYWTTA thread, I saw that PhilippaB posed the question of whether or not online friends can be considered real friends. Well, I certainly consider all of you to be friends, so I'd have to say, "Yes."

    School has been leaving me feeling exhausted and, of course, now my time zone frustrations are going to kick back in -- by the time we're home from school and I've fed the sprog (Yes, BTH, he actually does come first), you've all pretty much gone to bed. Still, I hope next week I'll be able to at least address a few points -- even if it will be the first comment of the next day's thread (like this).

    And Deano, I will forward the article to you. You should have it by the time you're reading this. Off to my bed just after I've done it...

    ReplyDelete
  2. A war taking no longer than 45 minutes is something to be remembered. 500 casualties in that time, too.

    A simple math calculation. Let's assume the war had taken one month then the casualties would have been: 24 hours x 60 minutes = 1440 minutes : 45 = 32 x 500 = 16,000 x 30 days = 480,000 casualties. The people from Zanzibar were clever I can say.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Comment from the climate camp thread:

    "Go to Boulangerie Jade, in Blackheath village . . . great bread. Enjoy."

    Fucking anarchists!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Putting up a beach scene when I'm stuck in the office today and not on holiday 'til October is just plain mean! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dotterel,
    Indeed, the Medway estuary has never looked lovelier.

    ReplyDelete
  6. elementary_watson27 August, 2009 10:03

    Well, those statistics are pretty informative, but may I ask which side won? *keeping fingers crossed for Zanzibar*

    ReplyDelete
  7. Montana

    What a photograph. You can't do this to me on my first day back at work.....

    Bru

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can't believe all this stuff Kiz has missed: the etiquette threads, and today a biscuit thread!

    Hope her house is safe, as someone remarked yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. colinthestoat
    I thought it was the river Nene...

    ReplyDelete
  10. My Sokal has just arrived, Monkeyfishs recommendation. I cant remember a time when a book was so physically satisfying - beautiful big, heavy lump, hardback, nice grey/silver front with simple bold text, it smells nice, nice pages, its so nice I've just been toying with it for a few minutes. Oxford University Press - fantastic effort.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love new books, especially hardback, crisp pages, that smell, the anticipation of diving straight in................

    ReplyDelete
  12. "the anticipation of diving straight in................"

    Oh no, its far too nice to actually read, it would be covered in grubby fingerprints. This is purely a bookshelf job.

    ReplyDelete
  13. “This is purely a bookshelf job”

    Coffee table, Jay, surely, or did that get trashed along with the TV?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Coffee table, bookshelf, but, but, what the, eh?!!?

    Do you people have Ferraris on your driveways that you just drool over and never actually drive?!?!!?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Woohoo! SFA chief Gordon Smith has called for that contemptible little shit Eduardo to be banned! Is it going to happen? It'll be a cold day in hell before divers are punished by UEFA, the FA, or (snigger) half-blind Arsene Wenger...

    ReplyDelete
  16. The 'Spawn of Seaton' are a bit lively today.
    On Greers piece I said:
    'Some people 'expected better' of Miss Greer, I did not'
    Seatons clinkers have offed it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. elementary_watson27 August, 2009 12:45

    "Do you people have Ferraris on your driveway that you just drool over and never actually drive?"

    Of course we do, don't you? However, it's nice to see that you used the correct plural form.

    I once gave my brother a hardback edition of Shakespeare Works as a birthday present, just for him to put it on a shelf and make a more cultured impression. I myself once considered buying a collection of Dickens novels I already owned in paperback, which were in a gorgeaor leatherbound hardback with gilded page edges. I didn't because I was on a holiday and had problems stowing all my stuff back into the bag, already.

    ReplyDelete
  18. elementary, no I prefer Astons, but that's beside the point!

    Owning a book and not even reading it* is sacrilege!

    *not reading non-fiction/reference from cover to cover is acceptable, but one should at least open it!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Oh shit, I was going to have a tenner on this years GCSE results being record breaking and I went and forgot.

    Still, plenty of time to get it on for next years exam results....

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dotterel:

    “Do you people have Ferraris in your driveways..?”

    Driveways, that’s bloody middle class suburban assumption isn’t it ;-)

    Is anyone else finding the ongoing “Who is Peter Jones?” saga just a little tired now?

    I’m beginning to wonder if JaneBasingstoke has her own agenda she’s not sharing...

    ReplyDelete
  21. andy

    Would you rather I'd've gone with:

    "parked in your palatial garages"

    OR

    "parked somewhere in the general vicinity of your (possibly rented or squatted) house/flat/cardboard box"?

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Coffee table, with the TVphobe around? You must be joking, she'd break it within minutes. And if she isnt breaking things she's hiding them (tidying, she calls it).

    ReplyDelete
  23. Dotterel,
    Most ciffers have a Cortina up on bricks in the front garden but on here we can all live a lie.

    ReplyDelete
  24. elementary_watson27 August, 2009 13:37

    Oh yeah, tidying ...

    He: Honey, you know where my screwdriver is?

    She: Well, if you wouldn't always leave your room/apartment in such a mess, you would know where you left it and wouldn't have to ask me.

    He: Thing is, I could have sworn I put it here, but obviously I'm mistaken. You sure you didn't see it?

    She: I put it in the second drawer from the top.

    ReplyDelete
  25. colin:

    “a Cortina up on bricks”

    I’m impressed mate. I’m still trying to scrounge the bricks...

    ReplyDelete
  26. Lord S

    In reply to your witty comment last night - how long did it take to get rid of the sand?

    I swear I've still got some in places you wouldn't believe.

    Bru

    ReplyDelete
  27. Charliebanfishcat.monkey27 August, 2009 13:50

    Strange being banned. Cif instantly loses its appeal. It's a wierd experience; yiu tend to pay attention to what you read and you suddenly become aware of the sheer volume of annodyne and trivial posts. If posters aren't gonna be controvesrial then surely they have a duty to try and be entertaining. They seem to think people care what they think..even though they think the same as 100+ who got there before them.

    I know that sounds a bit stroppy but surely after 100 or so, the bog standard, predictable Guardian pov has been laid out as has the sorta expected right wing backlash...after that it's time to start rowing, picking other peoples' posts apart, cracking a few jokes etc. Moderation should reflect this. The further into a thread...the higher the threshold for deletion...you've gotta be fairly near the knuckle by that stage to avoid repetition or banality.

    Good to see they're still 'chasing' Peter Jones..get the feeling it's been a black few days at Guardian Towers (aka. Meerkat Manor) or whatever it is you call it. I think they're wondering whether it's all worth it. I know I am.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I found a screwdriver in my engine compartment this morning, I'm wondering whether to return it to the garage that serviced my car last week, or treat it as a free gift?

    ReplyDelete
  29. Andy @ 12.25 on the misogyny thread: classic!

    ReplyDelete
  30. elementary_watson27 August, 2009 13:53

    Dotterel: Just be thankful those people aren't surgeons ...

    ReplyDelete
  31. elementary_watson27 August, 2009 13:55

    thauma: Yeah, it's funny, but still it tastes a bit of monkey business, doen't it?

    ReplyDelete
  32. elementary: that's exactly what I thought!

    ReplyDelete
  33. thauma,

    I'm less impressed by andy's defence of chimps (although don't get me wrong it's impressive) than by his ability to date a tea drinker whilst being a coffee drinker, that's some serious commitment!

    and elementary, my biologist side just has to say this, sorry:

    CHIMPS ARE NOT MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. thauma: thanks, I thought Jay’s response was spot on too.

    Dot: not only that, she actually likes brown sauce rather than ketchup.

    It’s a miracle we’ve lasted this long to be honest...

    ReplyDelete
  35. andy

    Exactly! How does she put up with you?!

    (I'll be willing to change that around if you answer the following correctly:

    Which one of you likes marmite?)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Marmite! Yeuch!

    I posted the above when I'd just got Andy's original chimp post - the ensuing banter has been good fun!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Here's some rare footage of life in the Peter Jones household (2.30 onwards):

    cooked breakfast

    ReplyDelete
  38. I love marmite.

    Lady S hates it.

    She says she knows things about marmite that I don't because she used to work in a brewery, from where the yeast that goes to make Marmite is sourced.

    I pray she never tells me what these 'things' might be.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Dot: I suspect the only thing that’s actually keeping us together is our mutual dislike of Marmite...

    Incidentally, with your knowledge of the animal kingdom etc, would you agree that misopanism is the correct word for anti-ape prejudice?

    And if not, what should it be? I don’t want some bloody pedant to be all over me accusing me of getting my terminology wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  40. elementary_watson27 August, 2009 14:51

    Dotterel, you did take that "monkey business" comment quite literally, didn't you?

    But your comment prompted me to compare the German classification with the English one ... It seems to be, like, totally different. How English and German primate people can talk to each other baffles me.

    ReplyDelete
  41. andy

    Then the pair of you deserve each other, it's lovely stuff! Incidentally LordS, it can't be any worse than what my brother has been telling me marmite is all these years, and that hasn't put me off!

    on the subject of anti-ape prejudice, pan is the genus that chimps and bonobos belong to, so possibly doesn't apply to all apes, but I think you probably need a linguist rather than a biologist?

    ReplyDelete
  42. The chimp wars are alive and well.

    ReplyDelete
  43. elementary,

    There are several things like that: I'm told that dragonflies and damselflies are all just one group in everyday German for example. We get around it using the Linnean classification system (roughly speaking: scientific/Latin names)

    ReplyDelete
  44. elementary_watson27 August, 2009 15:11

    Dotterel: Let me guess: The Linnean classification is a bit at odds with both systems?

    ReplyDelete
  45. In the first King Kong film the giant ape was sometimes referred to as a monkey. It is a derogatory term when used of an ape and should be avoided by Guardian readers.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Lord S, I fear it may be the same thing that happens in yoghurt factories (sorry, but oh yes) and abbatoirs. I was talking to a guy who worked in a Glasgow slaughterhouse a few years ago. On his first day, he saw one of his co-workers having vigorous sex with a hanging carcass.

    On apes and monkeys, we tend to think of ourselves as behaving like apes, rather than monkeys, but in fact (according to a recent book I saw reviewed in TLS) humans are unlike the other higher apes in that we have communal care of our offspring, like many monkeys. A chimp baby that ventures far from its mother in a chimp troop is a baby with a short life.

    And thanks Montana for the lovely shot; the black underwater stains are clearly where the hotel sewage pipes come out.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Apparently you don't ever want to work in a cheese factory either.

    Blessed be the cheesemakers.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Dot: well that’s me screwed then.

    I just hope no one from the Hylobatidae Peoples Party turns up on that thread accusing me of attempting to exclude gibbons...

    ReplyDelete
  49. Blessed be the cheesemakers.

    apart from that twat from Blur, obviously.

    ReplyDelete
  50. elementary

    Kind of, but in theory it's based upon evolutionary history, and is therefore a bit more sensible, it's also standard across the scientific community.

    andy

    "Hylobatidae Peoples Party"

    that made me laugh, am I a geek?

    ReplyDelete
  51. Dot: “am I a geek?”

    I had to search around on google to come up with that word.

    If you knew what it meant without having to do so, then yes, I’m afraid you probably are – a gibbon geek...

    ReplyDelete
  52. Andy, for a minute I thought you meant you had to search for "geek".

    ReplyDelete
  53. but the saddest thing is I'm not a gibbon geek

    Turdidae and Charadridae are more my field.....

    ReplyDelete
  54. My dog is fond of Turdidae. Particularly vulpine turdidae.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Dotterel:

    Turdidae and Charadridae? Aren’t they those two rocks in Odysseus?

    Only joking. I know a Charadrius morinellus when I spot one ;-)

    thauma: yeah, that’s right love...

    (Aside: don’t worry, everyone, she’s doing awfully well on the misogyny thread)

    ReplyDelete
  56. Andy - you now force me to point out that a certain Cif poster named traneroundthebanned, who is particularly sensitive about having his name mis-spelt, has mangled another's poster's name on (I think) that very thread today.

    ReplyDelete
  57. The mods are back from their holidays. I'v just been modded for ....

    Pat Richardson, denies that the BNP were involved on the attacks on Ramjanally and has said that: "Firebombing is not a British method. A brick through the window is a British method."

    I agree entirely. Does anyone have Pat Richardson's home address?


    Now what was wrong with that? I just wanted to pop round to Pat's place and show her my deep commitment to the British way of life.

    ReplyDelete
  58. thauma

    I'm going to report your dog to the RSPB.......

    I've just heard that 5 of my 23 Pacifastacus leniusculus have died :-(

    ReplyDelete
  59. thauma: have I?

    Please let me know who (seriously) so I can apologise.

    LordS: I agree.

    I’m also disgusted when posters on Cif suggest we should bring out the guillotine to deal with erring politicians etc.

    British tradition demands that we hang the bastards, surely?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Jay " if she isnt breaking things she's hiding them (tidying, she calls it)."

    My sympathies - I have a daughter like that!

    ReplyDelete
  61. Sorry thauma, what I meant to say was:

    Has he? Please let me know who so I can suggest he apologises...

    ReplyDelete
  62. Quite right, andy. We'll have none of those filthy, sneaky, foreign, socialist, French methods of execution here.

    ReplyDelete
  63. This one, Andy.

    I am now going to have to do some Googling to understand Dot's comments.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Ah, birdies and crayfish.

    Sorry to hear about your loss.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Interesting to note that GypsyLee and Flewellyn didn't return to the debate on Melissa McEwan's blog.

    Checking their posting history suggests a pair of sock puppets. The former appears to have never posted before this blog, the latter appears to have only ever posted blogs written by Melissa McEwan with one single exception.

    ReplyDelete
  66. They've just closed comments on that thread! Surely it can't be three days?

    ReplyDelete
  67. Nope, barely 24 hours.

    Ah well, time to go home anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  68. thanks for the sympathies thauma, but actually it's my mate's BBQ that loses out......

    ReplyDelete
  69. No, that won't be until 13:00 on Saturday.

    They closed it yesterday because people were getting too heated, disagreeing too much and calling each other nasty names and they couldn't have that.

    I think they closed it today because it looked like people were debating sensibly and coming to some sort of agreement. They couldn't have that either.

    ReplyDelete
  70. They’ve closed the bloody thread!

    How am I going to apologise to brookmyreaddict (I worked it out eventually, thauma).

    Now my soul will be forced to wander endlessly in the limbo of Cif, wanting to put right the wrong I have done, but unable to make amends.

    What a fucking bummer...

    LordS: last night they gave a warning and said it was closing for the night.

    Did they do that this time, or is it gone for good?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Didn't see a warning.

    I've raised the issue on WDYWTTA but I'm not expecting a reply. Georgina doesn't seem to like me for some reason, though I've always been polite to her when replying to her comments.

    ReplyDelete
  72. LordS:

    Yeah, I’ve just seen your post on WDYetc.

    I’ve actually defended Georgina to some extent on that thread. I’m going to have to go and lie down in a minute.

    Isn’t the usual advice in times of economic trouble to acquire gold, because it will retain its value whereas property and shares will not?

    Like I’ve got any money to invest in gold...

    ReplyDelete
  73. Evening all.
    Can't get anything but the 1st page on the misogyny thread. Is the CiF hamster on a tea break?

    ReplyDelete
  74. Ah, it's working now!

    ReplyDelete
  75. That's the advice, so the question is whether these companies are offering the economically troubled punter value for money.

    I suspect not.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Yeah, ‘cos those companies are all, like, philanthropic organisations, aren’t they, just like banks.

    Sometimes, your Lordship, you can be right naive ;-)

    MsChin: I had that earlier, but you’re right, the hamster’s back running round again now.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Change that name to andysbeingbloodyawkwardtoday ;-)

    Yes, I know all that.

    But first, I wanted to make an obref to something we should talk about or risk my post being deleted for being off-topic (the mods are on a roll with my stuff at the moment) and secondly I wanted to raise the issue anyway. I'm sure these places are ripping people off something rotten and someone ought to look into it.

    Not that flogging off our gold seems to worry anyone in this country, least of all the government.

    Goldfinger Brown’s £2 billion blunder in the bullion market

    ReplyDelete
  78. Hello?

    (taps microphone)

    Is this thing on?

    ReplyDelete
  79. (tumbleweed)

    ReplyDelete
  80. On the misogyny piece, when I asked CiF for more articles on feminisms, I expected something better than this.

    At least there are some enlivening posts BTL!

    ReplyDelete
  81. You're supposed to say ...

    Is there anyone there?

    and we say ...

    There's nobody here but us chickens.

    ReplyDelete
  82. :)

    What's the deal with locking down the misogyny thread every night? It doesn't seem any nastier than some other threads...

    ReplyDelete
  83. LordS
    The govt - you'd think so, wouldn't you? Some of these gold buying firms are seeing people in their homes, others taking in people's gold by post, FFS.
    I imagine that the pawnbrokers' professional assoc will be complaining given Uncle traditionally has stepped in with 'cash for gold' during hard times.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Hi okeliedokelie. The chickens do respond from time to time! Welcome to the coop / ape house.

    On the misog thread - they closed it early again?

    ReplyDelete
  85. Blimey - it was closed before I got home. That's really mean and anti-worker, isn't it!

    ReplyDelete
  86. hi MsChin,

    Yeah, they closed it early... it didn't seem particularly bad natured. Well, someone called allymcb wasn't really making many friends, but other than that, it seemed ok.

    Oh, and the article was taking a beating :)

    ReplyDelete
  87. That's really mean and anti-worker, isn't it!

    It's a good point. It could be argued that closing threads overnight skews the debate in favour of the home alone unemployed angry loner ;-)

    OK, I overstate the case here, but it's similar to the way the polling company called the American election wrong because they conducted a phone poll and didn't realise that anyone who had a phone was likely to be affluent and therefore more likely to vote for whoever it was who ended up losing by a landslide.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Some of these gold buying firms are seeing people in their homes, others taking in people's gold by post, FFS.

    Quite right, MsChin. It displays all the classic signs of a business that's going to end up on Watchdog IMHO,

    ReplyDelete
  89. Hi okeliedokelie, welcome to The Untrusted.

    (desperately try to remember if I’ve said anything disparaging to or about you on Cif, then heave sigh of relief at the fact that I’m posting there under another name anyway)

    According to Cordelia on the WDYetc thread, there’s a rumour that Peter Jones may be interviewed on C4 News tonight.

    LordS: you’re right, there is a worthwhile issue there.

    What do you bet The Guardian don’t cover it?

    MsChin: are you making misopanist comments now as well?

    (See my dialogue with Jay on the misogynisism thread for explanation...)

    ReplyDelete
  90. Seen it & laughed, andysays!

    ReplyDelete
  91. I'm going to set up one of these gold buying internet companies. It's going to be called

    www.fences4you.com

    Got gold? We'll give you cash. No questions asked.

    ReplyDelete
  92. LordS
    I can recommend a good fence builder ..

    ReplyDelete
  93. okeliedokelie
    See what you mean about allymcb.

    ReplyDelete
  94. You're all off watching Corrie, aren't you?

    ReplyDelete
  95. Interesting piece on Cif by Militant Medical Nurse

    Maybe we’ll eventually be permitted to comment...

    LordS: you should get Tanya Gold to be the face of your advertising campaign. Or maybe not ;-)

    okelie, MsChin: I thought allymcb started off making some sensible points, then she lost it somewhere...

    I really don’t think The Guardian did MMcE any favours publishing that piece.

    Apart from the fact that it was badly written and the arguments were full of holes (nothing new, admittedly) she seriously came across as emotionally disturbed (and as I’ve mentioned before, I have some idea of what that can mean and it’s not a suggestion I make lightly).

    Just as employers have a duty of care to protect their employees from being subjected to misogynistic attack, I think The Guardian has some sort of moral duty not to let possibly disturbed people loose on its pages in that way.

    The rumour about Peter Jones on C4 News was just that, apparently.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Evening all

    Welcome to okeliedokelie.

    Have been thinking of composing an answer to Georgina who is normally quite reasonable but who seems to have lost the rag a bit on the Meerkat subject.

    Didn't quite get the Meerkat hysteria myself, probably because I've never seen the ad in question. The ATL bit seemed like the usual PC-gone-mad diatribe, although some (a lot) of the BTL comments were quite funny.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Andy: yes, I thought the piece read as written by someone who was rather disturbed. With a bit of judicious editing, it might not have seemed so, as much, but as it stands it invites pity rather than anger, I think.

    In my yoof I would have agreed with more of her points (not having actually gone through some of her worse experiences), but now I have discovered the beauty of acknowledging my own faults and thereby forgiving men - or other women - for theirs.

    There are a handful of psychopaths out there, but mostly people are decent if you treat them decently. And most of us are capable of being bastards if you catch us at the wrong moment.

    So, like, peace, maaan.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Hi thauma:

    I too couldn’t quite understand some of the Meerkat hoo-ha, but the idea that someone would try to spoof The Guardian naturally appealed to me.

    “Imagine my surprise...”

    But apparently it just turns out to be another example of someone getting their PC knickers in a twist with no real need.

    I reckon that Georgina et al did wonder for a while if they’d been turned over, but either way they come out of it with egg on their face.

    If they weren’t spoofed, as now appears to be the case, they still have to explain why such nonsense was allowed to be published, or at least try to live the whole thing down, after it's gathered a load of bad publicity.

    I don’t think Georgina is likely to see the funny side of it, ever. She strikes me as being totally unable to laugh at herself (I feel safe to say this while Kizbot’s not here).

    By the way, what was the biscuit thread you mentioned this morning? I’ve just had a look and can’t seem to find it.

    ReplyDelete
  99. There are a handful of psychopaths out there, but mostly people are decent if you treat them decently. And most of us are capable of being bastards if you catch us at the wrong moment.

    Wise words. You should have that put on a t-shirt and send one to every Guardian ATLer ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  100. Local rags are crap.
    Ours has just reported a racially motivated attack in which a blow up bed was inflated till it burst outside a property. Apparently there was no damage as such but a lot of rubber all over the road.
    How the hell does one do something like that? Apart from the basic evil intent, did some prick stand there with a foot pump? It was not explained.
    Was this a chav suicide bomber? We should be told.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Andy - 'twas on the main page this morning. Don't think it was part of Cif, but some other Guardian sub-phylum.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Thanks, LordS, I think we can attribute the wisdom to the wine I am currently drinking. In vino veritas and all that.

    Colin - my local rags are very Daily-Mailish for the most part. Sensation! Immigrants! Gypsies! Benefit cheats! Very poor grammar and punctuation!

    ReplyDelete
  103. Out of interest stoaty, why did it qualify as a racially motivated attack? Presumably there must be more to it than you've said?

    ReplyDelete
  104. What a very odd crime. What if the rozzers turned up while you were half done. What do you say? What would be the crime - I mean even if you told them the truth you'll just look twatty.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Lord S.
    My point exactly. There must have been more than the paper said.

    Very coy rag mentioned immigrants. Badly written piece. A month after the incident plod have battered down doors and arrested people.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Maybe this is the sort of sensational crime that the Climate Camp lot can tweet about.

    I pwned u cos i blu up my once-fortnightly kid's lilo on yr frt lawn.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Plenty weird is all I can say.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Oh and there has been witness intimidation etc. Area no go for plod.
    Very odd crime indeed. Did the pumper wear safety goggles? there's another charge right there if he didn't.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Fencewalker is down wiv da kidz27 August, 2009 21:01

    Thauma:
    Can't help but read that as 'fart lawn'. Sry.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Fencingdakidz - lol - u clearly dosnt werk in automotive where dere is FRT and RR for lotza car bitz.

    ReplyDelete
  111. thauma, found it:

    Britain's still bonkers about biscuits

    I’ll have a look in a minute.

    Incidentally, I’ve been checking out something called The Talk, which is part of The Guardian online, but not part of Cif, after Georgina supplied a link to it today.

    Apparently anyone can begin a thread there, but at the moment I can’t even seem to sign in and attempts to contact the help facility are getting nowhere. Bloody Guardian Mickey Mouse technology again.

    Has anyone here ever explored this other world to any extent?

    Colin: that is one bizarre story.

    Were there any meerkats involved, and what sort of accents did they have?

    ReplyDelete
  112. Hi Fencewalker, longish time no see.

    Have you been down to the Forest recently?

    Apparently at the weekend someone discovered a number of 8 foot tall cannabis plants for which someone had built a platform on the woods. They were just growing happily away...

    Plod were called to take it all away. I’ve seen photos of one copper standing next to a few of these plants which are towering over him.

    We’ve been trying to decide which one of the staff or volunteers is the most likely suspect.

    ReplyDelete
  113. Trouble is, now they've done that biscuit thread, they've left themselves with no distraction device after The Great Meerkat Fuckup. Anyone wanna sweepstake on some jovial-trivial thread being impending?

    ReplyDelete
  114. Hi Andy - yes, I was unaware of that part of the
    Graun website too, until Georgina mentioned it.

    Investigation will have to wait as I am, er, off up the wooden hill now.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Heya Andy. Haven't been *anywhere*. Trapped in house with kids as the time ticks down to Holiday End. It's been like Logan's Run; I'm tempted to leg it to Sanctuary. Not even enough money left to train it down to London, and I can't drive.
    Mind you, took them to a playscheme today and they looked through kestrel pellets (I'm sure they said kestrel) and found some mouse skulls, which was pretty cool.

    ReplyDelete
  116. Hi Fence
    Can't you get 'em posting on CiF?

    ReplyDelete
  117. Well, if recent events are anything to go by they could probably all have articles up by Monday. High School Musical might feature prominently.

    ReplyDelete
  118. andy,
    Yes a strange story. As for meerkats, I know not, they keep a low profile round here.
    Speaking of which, do you get the impression that the Graun are encouraging speculation as to the spoofness of the meerkat thread in a futile attempt to look less twattish?

    ReplyDelete
  119. That NHS nursing thread is finally open for comment, but Im too tired to do it justice for now.

    Just had a great exchange on WDYetc with someone called BoogieChillun who I assumed (with a name like that) was a bloke, but turned out to be a woman.

    Goodnight all...

    ReplyDelete
  120. Colin: not really sure.

    As I said above, my guess is that for a while they didn’t know what was going on.

    And now that this has apparently been splashed all over the blogosphere, they look bad whatever the final verdict on the spoofness turns out to be.

    Seaton’s been nowhere in this. I reckon he’s on his hols. Wonder what’ll happen when he gets back...

    Really going to bed now :-0

    (that’s a yawn, obviously)

    ReplyDelete
  121. Montana - special thanks for taking the time at the end of a busy day to post back Foot's thoughts.

    I appreciate the effort.

    My day today - as a patriarch was sometime special. My eldest son and his wife called around at lunch and invited to me join in a crawl for decent local real ale. The day was bliss

    What grown up man would not want to spend time with his grown up son and beautiful Fijian wife.

    Feg you part timers - I is blessed.

    Montana hope the sprog had joy with his G/folks in Texas."

    ReplyDelete
  122. "Seaton’s been nowhere in this. I reckon he’s on his hols. Wonder what’ll happen when he gets back..."
    My God, is Seaton actually Gordon? Or with him, at least? Has he ditched frappacinos (sp?) for Community Service?
    More to the point, does all this make Georgina Mandy?

    ReplyDelete
  123. Fenceunderappreciatedwalker28 August, 2009 01:14

    Quite pissed off - sneaked in a meerkat ref ("merely catty") on Whaddya which only one bugger's spotted. I know it's lame, but...

    ReplyDelete
  124. Oh that shit slip slide thing called language.....

    that wonderful Fijian wife was not the lass of the old man but of his son.


    I guess if I had paid a little more attention to syntax and punctuation I would not now at this late time have to plead .....speciale

    excuse.

    d.

    ReplyDelete