toilet humour

A sign in the St. Alban's branch of Marks and Spencer :


I know exactly what this is trying to say, but I still find it funny.
I am now going away to look up the word "puerile" in the dictionary.

blog action day : poverty

Today is "Blog Action Day" and the subject is Poverty.

Amidst all the talk of global economic meltdown, credit crunches, rising fuel costs and approaching recessions, we see that governments can find billions to buy banks, prop up financial markets and fight wars. And yet at the same time, many around the world are denied access to basic needs. Look at some of these stats from Oxfam.

I have certainly never had a privileged upbringing, but I really don't know what it's like to be poor.

I don't want to experience it.

I don't think anyone should experience it.

I show gratitude for the opportunities that I have by giving regularly to charities. However, given my relatively comfortable situation, I probably don't do enough, and so I'm using this exercise as a wake-up call.

The key word in all of this is "Action". It is all very well blogging about it, but DO SOMETHING every day - however small - toward the goal of banishing poverty .... like following this magical link to the Hunger Site. Use it. Bookmark it. Do something radical like make it your homepage.

H2O ? oh !

I went to a party recently. 

That's a novelty in itself these days. The other novelty was that despite the offers and availability of wine, beer and spirits, I touched none of it. I also didn't go near fizzy, flavoured soft drinks, and I didn't touch tea or coffee. I drank only water all evening. 

 

I'd been to the gym in the afternoon and had worked up a decent sweat, so I was pretty dehydrated. I was also driving home after the party, and with a pregnant wife and 5-year old daughter as passengers, why take any chances ? So - water it was.

And you know what ? I had a great time at the party. And despite a very late night, I woke the following morning with no headache, no crap taste in my mouth, and no aches-and-pains from stupid stunts and stupid dancing that might have arisen from drinking vast quantities of alcohol. I was grateful for that.  

And on a more serious note, I was very grateful for the fact that I could just go to a kitchen tap and help myself to as much clean, safe water as I wanted. In these times, it's just wrong that there are many places around the world where people just do not have that opportunity - that gift.  

Scott Harrison's most excellent project charity: water is making a difference. I dropped by - why don't you ? 

how appropriate is this ?

The late, great Richard Feynman once said :

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.

The Universe started with a Big Bang. Maybe it will end in a Credit Crunch ?

$700bn economic bail-out plan approved by Congress ... everybody sing

To the tune of Rolf Harris' "King Caractacus":

Oh, the members in the lobby of the House of Representatives have just voted 'aye'