abc's for ebayers

Have you been on ebay recently?

No really, have you?


We recently sold a life-sized inflatable version of
the QE2 (reckoning her final voyage would be
the best time to attempt this).


(Here's a picture of our toy in a puddle
next to the ornament in the garden.)

So ...... trawling (ha?) the ebay site became a rare
and beautiful past-time for a couple of evenings.

If I landed upon 12 different ebayer offerings
(and I didn't, I read about 20) you can be certain
9 of them (and there weren't, it was around 17)
included truly horrendous spelling mistakes.
Ok, ok - who cares? But these were ordinary,
everyday, four and five letter words.

Try it - you'll be amazed.

Texting at the wheel

Is it me?
Did I REALLY hear on RAD4 last week that a Govt. funded safety survey had concluded it's dangerous to send texts whilst driving?

I did didn't I. I guess they'll be telling us next that breast milk is best for babies? (Oh no, they did that last year - another EXTENSIVE survey).

Em .... you can't really laugh, even, can you? - it's all too sad.

I need to commission a survey myself.
I believe we all need to know whether or not we're more likely than not, to get wet if we go out in the rain.

Any takers?

Wide and loud

In these green days (by-the-way ... notice no-one is advertising how green they are amongst their TV adverts anymore?) - when perhaps the most UN-GREEN item you could think of is, say, an EXHAUST PIPE - yes?

Isn't it odd at these are exactly the same days that see us surrounded by the latest fad of fantastically wide exhaust pipes. As if these items shout "Look how powerful I am, look just HOW MUCH exhaust I need to expel"

The other thing these odd fashion items add to is, of course, noise pollution.

Why W-I-D-E

I decided to replace my computer monitor recently, going for a flat screen 19".
It wasn't easy trying to find one that WASN'T a wide-screen version, all manner of salespeople - staring at me AGHAST with horror - is this man completely MAD?

You see, the 4:3 ratio (the "old" ratio - if you must) is perfectly suited to viewing ...... well, a PICTURE. There is no reason on God's earth to want to view things as if you're knelt in front of a letter box! Wide-screen might be cool in a cinema, necessary even, given that cinemas tend to be larger than living rooms - quite nice for looking at a Tibetan snow-strewn panorama ..... but for Eastenders? (whatever that is?).

NO, no no no. It's fashion again. Be honest now, is the picture better? Nicer somehow? Easier on the eye? No. It's worse. It's S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D, and the bigger the screen, the more ridiculous in today's modern home lounges.

What a shame - to phase out the perfect viewing ratio in the name of fashion, and to have (increasingly) everyday programs now shown in a format that distorts the picture.

These angry posts

You know, I've just read down this little lot - they're REALLY angry aren't they?

I can only apologise, it's ridiculous really - I think I was angry about .... oooooooh forty-thousand other things and took it out on the keyboard.

However, I stand by EVERY topic - all are valid, and many are topics taken-up some months later by a newspaper or radio discussion.

Funny, not angry at all - that.

TV & Radio Ad's - cannot bring themselves to say the word "POUNDS"

I've made a resolution. NEVER, EVER to buy anything from a retailer whose advert describes a price as "two-nine-nine" (instead of Two Hundred and ninety-nine POUNDS).

Invariably it appears to be same people who offer FANTASTIC OFFERS, like (this was COMET - in Jan 08) a product for £120 less than it was pre-sale (now 139, was 259).

Just how much blasted profit were they making pre-sale if they can AFFORD to reduce that profit by £120?

Unbelievable.