Curmudgeoness Abounds.

[Rizzo]

Here's a short quotation from Noel Coward's diaries - for all the curmudgeons :)

"24th December 1954.
Oh, how nice it would be, just for today and tomorrow, to be a little boy of five again instead of an ageing playwright of fifty-five, and look forward to all the high jinks with passionate excitement and be given a clockwork train with a full set of rails and a tunnel.
However, it is no use repining. As things are, drink will take the place of parlour games and we shall all pull crackers and probably enjoy ourselves enough to warrant at least some of the god-damned fuss."

[Kinoulton]

I could not have put it better myself!

I hope all true curmudgeons have a good day tomorrow in spite of themselves.

And a self-indulgent word.

Number one step-son is in a far off place in Afghanistan. Far removed from the many UK reporters clamouring to get cute messages from the relatively safe haven of Camp Bastion. He and his tiny group of Afghan soldiers are many hundreds of miles away from that place.

They'll be freezing in their tents tonight. We like to send the lad boxes of silly rubbish like cheap sweets, mini Christmas puds, custard powder and chocolate santas which get shared amongst the troops of all nationalities and they love it.

They didn't make the war. We did. And for once, I'll stop being a curmudgeon for a bit. And hope they're all safe for one more night.

[Rizzo]

Kinny, please send number one step-son and his buddies the most heartfelt Christmas and New Year wishes from myself and my family. They do a thankless duty in many ways, but like you, I offer prayers that they all stay safe.

[Kinoulton]

He phoned his mum at 4 a.m. this morning UK time!

Silly :censored:.

[Rizzo]

Ouch - early hours of the morning phone call always scares me because you always half-expect bad news.

[Kinoulton]

The army make personal visits.

The doom you dread is never a phone call, but some uniformed man knocking at your door.

Before we hear on the radio "a soldier has been killed by.....", his or her parents will already have been told.

And a word of harmony:

The Taliban kept the Afghan army "busy" on Christmas Day.

The Afghan army had to respond and were incredibly grateful and impressed that the Brits immediately came out to fight alongside them, despite it being the Christian "Holy Day".

Is there a chance that some mutual understanding might come out of this mess?

[Bill W (2)]

Is there a chance that some mutual understanding might come out of this mess?

At an individual personal level certainly.

At a global level regretably history woud say not.

Nonetheless we live in hope.

[Ze Stade Fan]

A merry and safe Christmas to all soldiers serving abroad. Hope we can see the end of this one soon.

[Kinoulton]

Thank you, Ze Stade Fan!

[fleabane]

The bloomin automatic turnstiles!!!!!!!

Today the turnstiles for the terrace failed to work again. I was first in the queue, and the attendant asked me "what have you done to your card?" and told me to go to the ticket office: he wouldn't let me in (after 2hrs queueing!). Only then did I realise that the next turnstile was not working and stayed put. We were all then kept waiting for a while before somebody decided to implement plan B and let us in anyway.

I am hugely unimpressed that, after queueing, I should have to go to the ticket office on the opposite side of the ground if there is a fault with my card.

All cards are valid for premiership matches, and are not issued until payment is made, so why can you not be let through if there is an actual fault?

Is it not beyond the wit of man to test the wretched machines 15 or 20 minutes before the gates open, by someone actually using a card, instead of just relying on the computer saying they are all on?

Maybe it was the change of temperature between the outside and the inside of the booth, the wrong kind of snow, leaves on the line..............

[known as eric at work]

The dead (or intermittant at best) turnstile at the Cat stand was only part of the problem when we got in.
If I ever hear a middle to old aged person have a go at the "kids of today" after witnessing how the older generation kept pushing in at the queue, I'll probably scream.
The young ones near me where quite polite, and correct, in asking the older ones why they where pushing in. Pity none of of them had the good grace to either apologise, or go to the back of the line.
To be fair to the stewards, they cannot be held responsible for other peoples lack of manners.
A very merry Xmas, to each one of those ignorant old toads. May a pox be wrought upon them.

[Kinoulton]

The motto in our industry has always been: "To err is human. But to REALLY screw up, you need a computer."

[Kinoulton]

One dry wit (think it might have been Keith Waterhouse) wrote a column way back in the 1970s, that suggested that the future of TV for the youth of that era should just be cameras on themselves.

No entertainment, no script, no actors, no talented people. Just cameras pointing at the youths and the resulting pictures to be streamed onto TV screens in all parts of the room they were in.

The oiks could point at the screens and shout: "That's me! That's me there. Hey, Tezza, there's you next to me! We're on tele, look! Wave!"

They would be happy for the rest of their lives.

[Bill W (2)]

Isn't that what we have now, largely, with reality TV?

No entertainment, no scripts, no talent?

[fleabane]

Sad but true Bill, but without it, who could we offer our wise words of advice to? Or rather, to whom could we offer our wise words of advice?

Never end a sentence with a preposition.