Absolutely!
TICTH toy manufacturers who put their merchandise in stupidly-shaped boxes, rendering them impossible to wrap neatly, Small Relatives for the delectation of.
Air France KLM can head straight to hell. First they fail to put my Dad's suitcase on the plane. They promise it next day. At 6pm on Christmas Eve when all the shops are closing, they announce it's been given to a parcel delivery service and won't arrive until the day after Christmas. Presents, wine and Christmas pudding were all inside (not to mention clothes, after it was too late to buy more).
We pretty much saved Christmas dinner, but they will be getting a very strongly worded letter.
I think words in death announcements are often cut to a minimum to save money.
Reminds me of a joke I heard years ago. An elderly gentleman died, and his widow being very frugal put an announcement in the local paper that simply said “Smith dead”. The editor of the paper called her and pointed out that the minimum payment was for five words, so she could extend the announcement if she wanted to at no extra cost. The final announcement read “Smith dead. Volvo for sale”
Fire, or at least uncontrolled manifestations of it.
Our local Baptist Church suffered their building being consumed by fire this morning. No injuries, and the volunteer fire service got the fire under control (and it was mercifully calm so it didn't spread), and nothing irreplaceable lost, but still a big shock to the congregation.
This winter's cold can go back to the hell from whence it came. While the entirity of the out-laws are whooping it up on the other side of the city, I am curled up in bed mainlining NSAIDs, decongestant and strepsils and generally feeling like I have bubonic plague. The guacamole production line has been in full swing for the last 14 hours or so. I haven't felt this ill since my now 19yo nephew gave us all norovirus at his christening - thankfully it is only my nose that is exploding at irregular intervals!
There is no way that I will be heading over to Essex tomorrow, or for some time yey - though judging by her response mum has something similar.
Given our building is insured for 4.5 million I think I would be at least ambivalent about it. I know a priest who prayed for a convenient landslide to come and wipeout their grade II listed Victorian pile.
One wonders if it was caused by an electrical fault, arson or a candle. Not that it matters.
Candles were confirmed extinguished, and likely culprits like electric heaters were turned off, so we'll just have to wait and see. If I were forced to speculate I'd be eyeing the kitchen appliances.
The whole building seems to have been gutted - the roof is gone, and likely the internal walls too, from what I could see from the road. The building will certainly not be usable for quite some time.
Given our building is insured for 4.5 million I think I would be at least ambivalent about it. I know a priest who prayed for a convenient landslide to come and wipeout their grade II listed Victorian pile.
One wonders if it was caused by an electrical fault, arson or a candle. Not that it matters.
Candles were confirmed extinguished, and likely culprits like electric heaters were turned off, so we'll just have to wait and see. If I were forced to speculate I'd be eyeing the kitchen appliances.
The whole building seems to have been gutted - the roof is gone, and likely the internal walls too, from what I could see from the road. The building will certainly not be usable for quite some time.
Point taken re ambivalence. If a fire gutted Our Place (and I know one should be careful what one wishes for), it would get rid of a great deal of useless Tat, and provide an opportunity for a reset...if only they could be persuaded to think outside the box for once...
In your case - and it's early days for the Baptist folk - is there at least a possibility of them sharing your building?
In your case - and it's early days for the Baptist folk - is there at least a possibility of them sharing your building?
It has been proposed before and they haven't been keen, and our building has its own problems (though, admittedly, currently having a roof is a definite point in its favour) and is due to be "disposed of" in the next year or so. If I had my way we would club together and build new something suitable on part of the 40 acres of Glebe land we own, but there is a small group with their heart set on getting our building into community ownership and continuing to use it.
In your case - and it's early days for the Baptist folk - is there at least a possibility of them sharing your building?
It has been proposed before and they haven't been keen, and our building has its own problems (though, admittedly, currently having a roof is a definite point in its favour) and is due to be "disposed of" in the next year or so. If I had my way we would club together and build new something suitable on part of the 40 acres of Glebe land we own, but there is a small group with their heart set on getting our building into community ownership and continuing to use it.
Understood. Hopefully, something mutually beneficial to church(es) and community will be the result.
Seriously though, sorry to hear you've had the lurgy - it's a pain any time but more so when it deprives you of enjoyable things like feasting and drinking. I'd echo BF's recommendation of a nice WHISKY.
Very sorry to hear about Arethosemyfeet's Baptist friends' church too - I hope their insurance is in good standing.
The book I have just read. It's historical fiction, but lays claim to being high quality historical fiction. The blurb refers to the author "drawing on the documentary evidence of the time." The author talks of "reading between the lines."
It was very well written, and I enjoyed it, but my first thought on finishing it was to look up the family in the 1851 census. And from there a quick check of birth, marriage and death records showed that the only reason the author was "reading between the lines" was because he clearly couldn't be arsed to actually fact check and read the lines themselves. Which paint a completely different picture to the wild imaginings he conjured up "reading between the lines."
I seldom read historical fiction because I get irritated when I read something which I know from my history background to be inaccurate or not my interpretation of the events.
(Saying that, I just read David Grann’s The Wager and thoroughly enjoyed it despite it being a subject I wouldn’t usually choose, a shipwreck and mutiny. But I am reticent to call it historical fiction as it is retelling the journals of the sailors. But I also like Claire Gilbert’s I, Julian and that is very much fiction.)
I don't know why this is annoying me so much. Possibly because the people he is 're-imagining' were real, ordinary people. The youngest character in the book died IRL in 1930 and may well have living descendants. I would be incandescent if someone wrote fiction such as this about my forebears.
There's a line of commentary in the 'Afterword' saying that there is a 'single mention' in the original records of a 'married sister', but that the author believes this is a mistake as, if she existed, there would be more about her. And I thought 'Really? You think that minimal reference to a woman in 1857 means she didn't exist'? So I took a look and there she is - marriage record, seven children, census returns, newspaper obituary when she died. But her not existing feeds into the story, her existence doesn't. So the author decides she didn't, couldn't, exist.
If it were me I’d write to the publisher. After all the afterword is not part of the fiction, it is presented as factual information about the historical background.
Comments
TICTH toy manufacturers who put their merchandise in stupidly-shaped boxes, rendering them impossible to wrap neatly, Small Relatives for the delectation of.
We pretty much saved Christmas dinner, but they will be getting a very strongly worded letter.
Priceless!
Our local Baptist Church suffered their building being consumed by fire this morning. No injuries, and the volunteer fire service got the fire under control (and it was mercifully calm so it didn't spread), and nothing irreplaceable lost, but still a big shock to the congregation.
Presumably the building is no longer usable, until repairs are carried out?
There is no way that I will be heading over to Essex tomorrow, or for some time yey - though judging by her response mum has something similar.
IANAD, but WHISKY might help...
Given our building is insured for 4.5 million I think I would be at least ambivalent about it. I know a priest who prayed for a convenient landslide to come and wipeout their grade II listed Victorian pile.
Candles were confirmed extinguished, and likely culprits like electric heaters were turned off, so we'll just have to wait and see. If I were forced to speculate I'd be eyeing the kitchen appliances.
The whole building seems to have been gutted - the roof is gone, and likely the internal walls too, from what I could see from the road. The building will certainly not be usable for quite some time.
Once SWMBO returns, a large stiff one before bedtime is definitely on the cards.
I'm guessing that you're feeling better...
Point taken re ambivalence. If a fire gutted Our Place (and I know one should be careful what one wishes for), it would get rid of a great deal of useless Tat, and provide an opportunity for a reset...if only they could be persuaded to think outside the box for once...
In your case - and it's early days for the Baptist folk - is there at least a possibility of them sharing your building?
It has been proposed before and they haven't been keen, and our building has its own problems (though, admittedly, currently having a roof is a definite point in its favour) and is due to be "disposed of" in the next year or so. If I had my way we would club together and build new something suitable on part of the 40 acres of Glebe land we own, but there is a small group with their heart set on getting our building into community ownership and continuing to use it.
Luckily the afflicted parts are largely above the waist, whereas my sense of humour is very firmly below tbe waist and thus little affected.
Understood. Hopefully, something mutually beneficial to church(es) and community will be the result.
Seriously though, sorry to hear you've had the lurgy - it's a pain any time but more so when it deprives you of enjoyable things like feasting and drinking. I'd echo BF's recommendation of a nice WHISKY.
Very sorry to hear about Arethosemyfeet's Baptist friends' church too - I hope their insurance is in good standing.
The Knotweed has appeared bringing much welcomed leftovers, and a hot toddy is looming.
Is the last part of that sentence in code?
I'll get me oily and me sou'wester...
It was very well written, and I enjoyed it, but my first thought on finishing it was to look up the family in the 1851 census. And from there a quick check of birth, marriage and death records showed that the only reason the author was "reading between the lines" was because he clearly couldn't be arsed to actually fact check and read the lines themselves. Which paint a completely different picture to the wild imaginings he conjured up "reading between the lines."
I feel cheated.
(Saying that, I just read David Grann’s The Wager and thoroughly enjoyed it despite it being a subject I wouldn’t usually choose, a shipwreck and mutiny. But I am reticent to call it historical fiction as it is retelling the journals of the sailors. But I also like Claire Gilbert’s I, Julian and that is very much fiction.)