3 Jan 2011

A JAR OF PANDA URINE? AS SURE AS EGGS ARE EGGS.

PETTY WITTER POST.
Well it didn't make any of the national papers but ......

Petty Witter and Husband dearest are proud to show a photograph of their great-nephew born on the 29th of December 2010.


THE GUARDIAN.

Sounds like this driver could have used a satnav system or at least asked for directions.

A 72-year-old man was rescued on Christmas day by police after spending three days and nights driving around the M4 motorway, trying to find his way home.
(Reported missing by his family) Mr Bellazrak was traced through the number plate recognition computer which had recorded him driving around in numerous towns in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. - (27/12/2010)

THE TELEGRAPH.

And talking of Satnav systems - they now have a list of celebrities waiting to have their voices added. Personally, no matter whose voice is booming out telling the driver to take the next left, I find them irritating and it seems I am not alone.

There can be few motorists who have not been tempted to hurl a satnav system out of the window after it has guided the car into a jam.
However, navigation devices could in future know when they have upset the driver and react accordingly (with flowers and chocolates?).
"You could devise a system which would see how a driver was feeling at the time and concentrating" said Professor Robinson (head of emotional robotics at Cambridge university). "If a driver was stressed it could (give them a nice head and shoulder massage?) stop mobile phone from ringing, turn the the radio off and even stop giving instructions until the driver had recovered his composure." (And no before you ask these devices cannot be installed into your husband/wife no matter how desirable that might be) - David Millward (30/12/2010)

As if all that Christmas shopping wasn't enough, many shops started their sales on Boxing Day (26th December) - many as early as 7am with some people (largely woman) queueing from midnight.

The average British woman spends eight months of her life bargain-hunting according to a poll.
A survey of 4,000 women found that they spent up 20 minutes of each of their eight shopping trips a month rooting through clothes racks for the best deals.
Nearly 40 minutes a week were taken up looking for bargains being offered in supermarkets, and 23 minutes a week were spent online in the hunt for the best deals. - (29/12/2010)

Now I hate the thought of being offensive to anyone but surely this is political correctness gone mad.

Police have been banned from using the phrase 'sure as eggs are eggs' * in case it offends women with fertility problems, a senior officer has claimed.
Writing on a popular blog (click HERE for the actual post), the whisteblower, said colleagues had been ordered not to use the expression on 'diversity' grounds. - John Bingham (01/01/2011)

England - increasingly a Nanny State**?

Stairs in stations and public buildings could be adapted to play tunes as people stand on each step, making them 'fun' to climb, a government report has suggested.
Encouraging people to take the stairs instead of lifts and escalators could cut obesity and increase public fitness.
The suggestion was made by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) at the Cabinet Office, a group of (pompous, self righteous) economists and scientists who are devising ways to change public behaviour without passing new laws.
Its work is central to (Prime minister) David Cameron's promise to end nanny state government and put more faith in people to make their own choices (by creating yet another level of bureaucracy who won't tell us what to do, only suggest it?  Sounds like a nanny state to me). - James Kirkup (01/01/2011) READ FULL ARTICLE to see some other ways BIT hopes to 'nudge'us into being more responsible.

* Absolutely certain.
** A government perceived as having excessive interest in or control over the welfare of its citizens, especially in the enforcement of extensive public health and safety regulations.

Isn't it illegal to take perishable foodstuffs abroad without proper permission? Perhaps this passenger should have purchased a ticket for his 'companion'.

An airline passenger tried to take a 10lb frozen turkey on a flight from Britain.
The holidaymaker planned to board a plane at Cardiff airport with the bird in his hand luggage.
When security staff challenged him, he said "Why are you making a fuss - will it thaw at 30,000ft?"
The turkey was packed to provide a festive meal for the traveller after arriving in Malaga as he was "worried that he couldn't find the right bird in Spain." - (30/12/2010)

THE TIMES.
(31/12/2010)

And whilst on the subject of planes .....

A company that offers couples the chance to make love while flying above the clouds has been grounded.
For the past two years Mile High Flights has offered the service from about six hundred and forty pounds, but the Civil Aviation Authority has refused to renew its licence.

And so onto another form of transport - buses.

A box of kittens, a decorated Christmas tree and four thousand pounds in cash were just a few of the staggering array of strange belongings left on buses in the past year. National Express logs more than 50,000 pieces of lost luggage every year.
Other finds have included a selection of false limbs, the same tuba five times n different buses, a set of false teeth ... attached to a zimmer frame and a jar of panda urine.


glitter-graphics.com

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your great nephew looks more than great.

Have a great week, Boonie

Willa said...

What a cute little guy!! Congrats on the great-aunt-ship :-)

and on a different note: i do love bargainhunting, but queuing up in the middle of the night, that is just pure madness!

Amrit said...

Good picture.

As always interesting Monday morning read. Is M4 so confusing?

StarTraci said...

Any baby that cute deserves national news coverage!

As sure as eggs are eggs, I would have loved to find 400,000 pounds on the bus but I could do without panda urine! BTW, how did they know it was from a panda?

Happy New Year, my friend. I am so happy to start another year knowing you and I hope that 2011 is a blessed and propsperous year for you.

Gina said...

Aww...he's adorable! Congratulations once again... ^_^

Suko said...

Congratulations on your great-nephew. He is such a cutie!

Another fun post, filled with sundry items. . . . :)

Alyce said...

Your great-nephew is adorable!

I haven't heard of either the eggs phrase or the nanny state term before. They must be purely British. I do think that the eggs thing is ridiculous though.

serendipity_viv said...

Congratulations on the birth of your great nephew. What a lovely start to the new year.

Sridharan said...

One of the most interesting blogs this. I've started following you...!
Believe me,I love being distracted by those cute graphics on the right side of the blog, when I read the posts in this blog.. (lol)!
BTW, congratulations..I am sure, you will have a great time with your great new arrival in the new year..!

Kelly said...

Great photo of the great!

So many interesing (and ludicrous) items here it's hard to decide just which to comment on... I enjoyed them all!

and panda urine?? ewww!

Golden Eagle said...

Great picture!

Thanks for the all the information here!

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

LOVE that pic! He is SO cute!!

Enjoyed the snippets.

NRIGirl said...

cho chweeee...t! Congrats once again!

Loved the post - a great read for the afternoon!

Melissa Gill said...

What a darling baby. It's something about those nine+ babies, they just look fuller in the face or something. And another series of hysterical articles.

I'm surprised they only have one set of false teeth, but maybe it's the just one set that was attached to the zimmer frame. How many was it in The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise 252?

Bad Alice said...

Aw, what a cute little fella! Congratulations!

I would avoid any stairs that played music, because I am no longer in kindergarten and so don't find the idea fun at all.

I'm rather curious about the zimmer frame with the attached false teeth. Was the frame just a convenient place to hang them? And how do you forget a zimmer frame? I suspect the tuba was repeatedly left behind by some poor student who remained hopeful that it might disappear forever.

Dorte H said...

I know I sound like an echo: how cute he is (but I am sure you don´t mind).

Nina said...

Your great-nephew is so cute!!

chitra said...

Cute baby. My nephew also had a baby boy.Me too a grand aunt :).

I don't love shopping much. I get bored, moving from shop to shop. I just go for shopping when I need things.

Lily said...

My sister had a baby on the 29th as well, also a boy. I haven't seen his picture yet as he's been in NICU (doing very well) so I'm especially pleased to see your little nephew. Congrats on being a great auntie.

About the panda urine, it makes me wonder exactly why, if they found a jar of urine, they would test it for species, or even test it at all? That is hilarious they tested a random jar of unidentified urine left behind on a bus! And of course that begs the question, who carries around panda urine anyway, and why?

Betty Manousos said...

Aww how I missed this post!

What a cute little baby!!
Congrats on your great nephew, Tracy!

Interesting installments, as usual.

Big hugs!

B xx

A heartfelt and big Thank You for your wonderful comments on my blog.
It means the absolute world.

Misha said...

Your great nephew is absolutely adorable! Thanks for sharing the picture and for the interesting post as usual

The Bookworm said...

the baby is adorable!
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Valerie said...

Your great-nephew is so cute!

Wishing you a good New Year 2011 .... may it be a healthy and happy one!

Short Poems said...

Congratulations on the birth of your great nephew, is sooooo cute :)

Anonymous said...

Ah, finally I see about the panda urine.
Congrats on the new little one. A sweetie, I see.
I want musical stair steps, great idea.

Bookingly Yours said...

cutie baby! i love babies . .. .