Who Likes New Socks?

Posted 30 Jun 2008

Daily Life, Design, People, The Little Things | 2 Comments 

New socks always pose a major dilemma for me.

Socks are most comfortable to wear when they are new; they are still thick, soft and fluffy. However, along with that fluffy-ness comes an inordinate amount of sock fuzz that sticks to your feet when you take your socks off, and even more fuzz that comes off in the dryer.

The problem is, that if you want the fluffy softness – you can’t avoid the sock fuzz. By the time the socks stop giving off all that fuzz, they are also no longer as comfortable. Yep, a serious and major dilemma.

Look who’s running for Parliament!

Posted 27 Jun 2008

Events, News, People, Places | Leave a Comment 

Living in a small village just to the east of Oxford, I fall into the district covered by the MP for Henley-on-Thames. The previous MP, Boris Johnson, recently succeeded in becoming the Mayor of London and so, yesterday, there was an election in my area to elect a new MP. (No, no, don’t worry. This isn’t becoming a political blog … I promise!)

Wishing to do my part in the democratic process, I went down to the village hall in the early evening. Outside the room where the voting was taking place was a copy of the ballot, so that voters could familiarise themselves with it and read the instructions on how to vote.

As I glanced down the ballot, I was bowled over by the third candidate on the list:

(Apologies for the poor quality photo. If you can’t read the text on the image, the third candidate in the list is Peter Thomas Bananaman, of 58 Reeds Avenue, Earley, Reading, RG5 5SR, standing for the Monster Raving Loony party.)

What?!? What the heck is that? I don’t recall getting any of their leaflets through the post. Well, I certainly didn’t know that the good people of the Monster Raving Loony party had put forward a candidate for the contest. That changes everything! I definitely need to re-consider how I was going to vote.

So how did I vote in the end? Not telling – it was a secret ballot!

The tarnishing of Mrs Jones’ reputation

Posted 26 Jun 2008

Daily Life, People | 2 Comments 

I experienced an interesting telephone call yesterday. (For the record, I’ve made up the surname, because I can’t remember the actual one the caller said, but it was definitely a surname.)

Walking through my kitchen yesterday afternoon, I picked up the phone as it suddenly rang as I walked by. (Well, since we rarely know when people will call us, the phone generally does ring suddenly.) I was my normal pleasant self, greeting the caller with some sort of cheerful ‘Hello’. The caller asked to speak with Mr Jones (who is a previous occupant of the house I rent). I informed my caller that he had the wrong number – there was no one by that name living here. ‘Well, is Mrs. Jones there?’, the called asked. I replied that Mrs. Jones didn’t live here either. The caller muttered something under his breath, gruffly said ‘good-bye’ and hung up.

It was only after replacing the phone in the cradle that I realised the full implications of what the caller had just asked of me. Effectively, the caller enquired: ‘Listen, I know that you just said that Mr Jones doesn’t live there, but nonetheless, is Mrs Jones there?’ Blimey! What kind of question is that?! I didn’t know whether to be offended or, perhaps worried about the defamation to Mrs Jones’ reputation.

A moment for Zimbabwe

Posted 25 Jun 2008

News, People, Places | 2 Comments 

Although this is not a political blog, and we have no intention of turning it into one, we would be remiss as human beings if we did not spend just a moment considering the plight of the people of Zimbabwe in light of the current political situation there.

Here are a few stories that cover the situation:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7472284.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7472565.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/world/africa/26zimbabwe.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/25/tutu.mugabe/index.html

You’re Sending Mixed Signals

Posted 24 Jun 2008

Design, Events, Places | 1 Comment