No end to his depravity

This picture of Gary Glitter being arrested over allegations of child abuse showed that he wasn't wearing a poppy. The man is an absolute disgrace isn't he?

Remember I bruise easily

If, like me, you were intrigued by recent reports of a Brazilian woman auctioning her virginity online then you should read this.

Breath deeply

The dogs, particularly Minnie, become very agitated when they hear thunder or other prolonged loud explosions. This usually means that you get the joy of a 45 Kg dog on your lap trying to bury its head somewhere around your neck. It's not funny.
With the fireworks weekend coming up and after advice from the vet, I decided to try something to calm them down.
Adaptil, is a dog appeasing pheromone that replicates the 'scent' given off by a lactating mother for her puppies. We chose the adapter method because we could then hit both dogs at the same time. This means plugging a little doofer into a electric plug socket and the pheromones get diffused.
At first it was difficult to see if it had had any effect because our two spend a lot of time sleeping and just generally lounging about. I guess we weren't really going to find out until the fireworks started.
Still, I did note a decrease in aggressive behaviour from Jan, so that was a result.

After you, no after you

I love the market in Ripon on Thursday mornings and we tend to buy our fruit and veg there as well as any other odds and sod we have to do.
So we're in Johnsons the cleaners picking up some dry cleaning when a small scruffy man came in behind me. He was dressed in a cap and coat over what looked like a fishmonger's apron and he'd dumped several suits onto the counter which needed altering. He looked very dishevelled and the apron didn't bode well for smells.
Anyway, he's chatting to the assistant and tells her that, amongst other things, he wants the trousers shortening.
You can see where this is going can't you?
The assistant asks him what leg length he wants.
"No idea," he said in a dirty old man voice, "someone will have to measure me."
In a flash, all the assistants had disappeared leaving me barely able to contain my laughter and being ushered out of the shop by Jan before I embarrassed her. It was so, so funny.

CountrySideLive

With my grandson staying this weekend and in the need to keep him (and me) amused we took off to the CountrySideLive event at the Great Yorkshire Showground this morning. The highlight of the day was going to be the ferret racing. Combine that with the fact that Jan had previously said she wanted to take a look at the showground then it was a no brainer.
I must be getting very cynical in my old age but I couldn't help noticing that the car park was full of 4x4s and the uniform worn by the great and good of Yorkshire comprised of a wide brimmed felt 'cowboy' hat, a green quilted waistcoat over a checked viyella shirt and tight trousers tucked into suede/leather boots (Hunters if that didn't look right). All very posh and very Country Life.
Jan, being a townie, but a wannabe  squire's lady, decided that she wanted to buy the uniform but we had only just managed to scramble together enough cash for the entrance fee, coffee and a few 'authentic' cornish pasties from a van. We'll save up for the next outing.

Defies belief

I used to be a fan of The Common Market, way back when, but I really do not like what has developed in its place. The EU is a hopeless pile (fill in the missing words), an organisation that has never had its accounts signed off. A situation that if translated into the real world would debarr it legally as an institution.
If you read this article it pretty much typifies my disgust at what's happening. Our elected government has to wait for some unelected bureaucrats in Brussels to give it the OK to start installing high speed broadband in rural communities. WTF?
We have slowly given up the right to control ourselves, make our own sensible decisions and decide what we can do in our own country without approval from Brussels. We have managed quite well for hundreds of years without the need to ask someone's opinion or authority.
It's an absolute nonsense and we go along with it. Don't get me started.

A game for real men

Just before I left school, way back in the mist of time, the school introduced Rugby League. That sort of made sense because it was a solid northern, traditional game and the school had stopped boxing. In other words, they transferred the violence from indoors to out.
However, having been brought up on a diet of this strange televised blood mud sport I sort of lost interest. This changed somewhat when I learnt that my closest friend in France used to play treize for Leeds as a young man. He was/is an all round good guy so I came out in sympathy.
Anyway, the Super League Grand Final (Leeds v Warrington) was played at the weekend and out of sheer boredom I watched it.
Than god I did. What a match. It was very fast, end to end football of the highest quality and very, very exciting. The modern Rugby League player is very fit, far fitter than 'regular' footballers, and if this report is to be believed (no reason why not) it's a game played by real men.

Ne're a mist

We've been back eighteen months now and, only because I dragged her kicking and screaming, we went to look at the two containers of furniture that we couldn't get into the house and that were still in store nearby. We opened both containers and sorted the contents into two piles one to keep and one to dispose of (to the Salvation Army).
This, I thought, was going to be the hardest bit. Jan hates getting rid of anything. But, it went well. It only took us half an hour and there was ne'er a mist in the ladies eye.
Well done that lady.

Get a grip

I have always believed that governments should not be involved in running nationalised 'businesses'. They should be run by people - entrepreneurs, who know what they're doing. Answerable to shareholders. That way you should get some accountability. A government should govern, that's what they're elected to do.
It was with some incredulity that I read that some voices, mostly on the left wing, were crying out for the renationalisation of the railways following the recent railway franchise fiasco. They seemed to be missing the point that it was the very civil service, who made the huge recent blunders, that would be the people empowered to run the railways. Get a grip.