Author: Janus

Hey! I'm back ...... and front

Time for bed, said Zebedee

I may have mentioned that I was a war baby. If not, I was. That meant that Dad worked 12 hours at the Siddeley and Mum continued to cope when he spent half the night doing his duty as an air-raid warden. So bed, I understand, became very precious. And that feeling was passed on to me and my sister. Of course we rebelled a bit as teenagers but in general we respected the hours set aside for sleep. The evening ritual of blacking-out, locking up and filling the kettle lived with us for many years. Continue reading “Time for bed, said Zebedee”

Will Meryl do Julia next?

Awesome photo: Meryl Streep as Maggie Thatcher in Film4 part-production The Iron Lady. Australia"s Prime Minister Julia Gillard speaks during a news conference at Parliament House in Canberra on 27 February, 2012

I can’t wait for the announcement that Ms Streep, still bouffant from her Maggie efforts, will accept the challenge presented by Australia’s own iron lady, who has seen off her closest rival in short order.  It was understandable that the top 2012 oscar honours went to a silent film, when the alternative was to reward  those famously strident tones echoing along Downing Street. But as voices go, Julia’s deserves to be immortalised too – and who better than Meryl to pull it off? A bit of a red rinse and hey presto!

Indian love call

‘When I’m calling you, oo-oo-ooo, oo-oo-oo…..,’ with an attractive sub-continental accent. ‘ Good morning. You owe my company 500 bucks. So pay up very quickly before we doorstep you. Thank you very much.’

Now I’m pleased to report that these distant, unsolicited callers haven’t yet discovered the wilds of Vikingland – perhaps owing to their concentration on English-speaking victims – but a word to the wise – you might get a call yourself before long.

Witness the Times of India: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Indian-call-centres-used-for-5m-debt-collection-scam/articleshow/11999098.cms

Doing the decent thing

So the Eurozoners are chipping another cool £110 bn. into the Greek pot – which is almost certain to be p*ssed away within a few years. At least that’s the view of the ‘markets’ this morning. Put another way, the neighbours have now subbed every Greek about £18,000 to zero effect so far. So why did the paymasters stump up?

Probably because they don’t want to wear the black hat. “We did everything we could, but the Greeks blew it,” they’ll say before long. Better than refusing charity and being blamed for the demise of a friend.

Is it? I wonder. Isn’t being nice to Greeks the same as being mean to the rest of the Europopulation? No contest then.

What’s so bad about extinction?

Just to put this into context: I’m much closer to extinction than I was 69 years ago. That’s life. Or in this case, death. So, musing as one does now and then about the transitoriness of this mortal coil, I wonder why the goody goodies of this world persist in lamenting the natural passing of everything they can shake a stick at!

If they could, they’d repopulate our crowded countryside with dinosaurs, woolly mammoths and giant stinging nettles. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about.

And now they even think they can save all of the 7,000 surviving languages – as if there is any lasting value in being able to say hi in Anishinaabemowin or Early Outer Mongolian.

Come on, guys. Spend your tax income on something else. Like educating aborigines. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist it.)