Mr Rumsfeld goes...
thoughts?
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It's a start, but the world really needs Bush to resign (and Blair can go to)
Perhaps now that Rumsfeld is out, the mindset for the solving of the Iraq mess should concentrate on transparentcy. Or is this being too ambitious?...or perhaps dangerous?
So farewell then,
Donald Rumsfeld.
You said of the war,
"It could last six days, six weeks.
I doubt six months,"
I do not know what I do not know,
But I do know,
You're out on your ear.
E.J. Cat, 17 1/2 nipples.
Eddie, any chance of a farewell "Donald Rumsfeld Soundbite"?
One down, two more to go.
Bush & Blair not long to go.
After being President Bush鈥檚 right hand man and key architect of America鈥檚 foreign policy in Iraq he has been sacrificed for the simple expedience of saving George W鈥檚 political skin.
After winning a momentous victory in the USA elections the Democrats should not be seen doing dubious deals to save this bankrupt policy.
Especially given the Democrats track record over the Iraq war they have to be seen to be principled if they are to regain any political credibility.
Hong on, didn't Bush pledge his support for Donnie just a couple of weeks ago?
I'm with SSC, I think we deserve a whole set of the DR soundbites to be posted somewhere, just so we can re-live the wonder of his logic (which doesn't resemble our earth logic at all!)
Yes! At last.
I would like to add my voice to the campaign for a good bye 'Donald Rumsfeld Soundbite'..
Rumsfeld knocked the item about Blind Mice out of the programme. Eddie said he was sure we would have tons of questions about the mice but we would never know the answers now. It made the whole thing a joke. Which it wasn't. But it made Eddie sound frightfully smart, witty and cool, which is the main purpose of his programme after all.
You'd think he'd resign and try and avoid the electoral disaster rather than wait until it had happened. He's obviously murally dyslexic (he couldn't read the writing on the wall)
Three re-sighted mice,
Three re-sighted mice,
See how they see,
See how they see,
They all ran after Condolizza Rice,
They gave little Georgie Bush some frights,
They bit Donald Rumsfeld's nose at nights,
Which was why he resigned.
Eat your poetic spleen out, Andrew Motion!
Robbie at (3) is not me because I can spell tranparency.
SSCat, you're on form tonight
He should have gone years ago. The policy towards Iraq will obviously change thank goodness.
Gordon Brown is going to be doing some heavy thinking tonight about what lies ahead (presuming Labour get in, of course)
Jonnie (15), surely G Brown will have some heavy thinking as to how he will fight the next election, with all of this as part of the legacy of Blair.
Blair is rather more likely to be "done" over cash for honours rather than what he did over Iraq. Well, they put Al Capone behind bars over tax, not his gangster rule.
Now that Rumsfeld has time on his hands, he could join Saddam Hussein in the dock for crimes against Iraq and her people and account for his insufferable arrogance and casual brutality.
Frances:
Thanks. It must be all the good news!
I found this link to all the BH DRSBotWs...
/radio4/news/bh/rumsfeld.shtml
...but none of the clips seem to work for me.
Didn't hear the good news until I got back from a Tai Chi class this evening.
Sadly while it may take only a day to replace one man it will take generations to repair the chaos that is now the Middle East.
I'm with Pete (17) for putting Rumsfeld and others on trial for war crimes, but I don't see it happening.
But yes, please Eddie - some soundbites - a little light out of the darkness...
I am not really bothered that he has gone as Gates will be no better. Bush has simply made him the fall guy.
At the end of the Day the Democrats won the House and may get the Senate. The US also has the first women Leader of the House who is from San Francisco (where I live). This is a big blow to the GOP and will make me smile all day as it has turned Bush into a 6 year president and not 8.
I will remember this election as full of Candidates who played every dirty trick in the book to stay in power. People who were so corrupt that not even in a society where they control the media could they hang on.
A great day for the US.
There's in the absence of working BH links. I hope we don't get too euphoric over the Democratic ascendency. They're just another , after all.
Still, the schadenfreude felt because of Shrub's embarrassment and decline into obscurity can only be exceeded by that occasioned by a similar fate for al Poodle.
Trying to control the world?
I see you won't succeed.
T'ien hsia shen ch'i
The world is a spiritual vessel
And cannot be controlled.
Those who control, fail.
Those who grasp, lose.
Some go forth, some are led,
Some weep, some blow flutes,
Some become strong, some superfluous,
Some oppress, some are destroyed.
Therefore the Sage
Casts off extremes,
Casts off excess,
casts off extravagance.
~ 450 BCE
I hate to be atlanticist about this, but how many of our regular froggers are from across the pond? Here being the UK. I mean, welcome, the more the better, but sometimes it's hard to know from the comments whether it's tongue in cheek or sincerely meant.
As I know, from the double entendre debate on the beach.
So Donald duck's out of a Mickey Mouse Government!
...Now we'll never know what we don't know or what we know that we don't know that we know....
was he pushed did he jump , or was he just Bush wacked
I think he was am bushed.
Unfortunately he'll now disappear from public office, be appointed on to several Boards of Directors or the equivalent and generally have a very comfortable life.
Unlike Saddam he will never be made accountable for the appalling violence he has visited on what was essentially a third-world country. Neither will Bush and neither will Blair.
But look on the bright side - maybe we can get Blair for selling peerages.
I'm sure you've seen this before - but if you haven't:
Donald Rumsfeld the poet - it had me in stitches.
yours,
Wolf
Re Deepthought (16)
Deepthought said....
"Blair is rather more likely to be "done" over cash for honours rather than what he did over Iraq"
-----------------------------
Hee hee : We'll log that and see if your are right or not! Then we can start judging how good we all are at predictions ?
Incidentally, What is the Collective noun for a number of froggers ?
I had a peak here
and it seems it could be any of three - either army of, colony of, or knot of.
Any ideas what we should plum for ?
Well-said RobbieDo (27) - Rumsfeld deserves to be held accountable.
Maybe we can get Dr Muir to interview him in a similarly probing manner to his interview of the Israeli PM Adviser this afternoon. What an example of cool restraint and persistance.
Was the item on 'Harriet the cow' and farmers' payments continuing in the 'Archers' vein? Can we expect pigs, sheep or reports from John Craven tomorrow?
And will Dr Muir's hair still be missing from the top of the blog tomorrow or will 'launch radio player' have been replaced by a big frizzy wig?
I am just posting to say how struck I am by the coincidence that both Anne P and msyelf not only go to Tai Chi but also go on the same day of the week.
Also to say while I really don't think the American elcetion results will change much as regards Iraq sadly - these things are always easier to get into than get out of - if it hastens the end of T Blair Esq I'm all for it.
He's one of those people who. the longer I think about them, the more annoyed with them I get.
Mention his name and I can feel the rage rising inside me. Just thinking about that stupid way he speaks, with that cod 'matey' accent, and thy patronising things he says and those stupid gaps in all the wrong places.........grrrrrrrr!
Think I'd better go away and take some deep breaths and try to calm down.
Very funny Wolf, I had'nt seen it.
Did you read on to the section about 'How they hang someone ?? It sounded pretty horrific what they do in Iran.
jonnie
Let's be inventive - how about an "opinion" of froggers?
Big Sister (1)
鈥淗e won鈥檛 be missed in this household鈥
What was he doing in your household - and/or are you just boasting about your marksmanship abilities? .....
Wolf (28): I followed your link to Mr Rumsfeld's 'poems'.
While I realise that his words were quoted to make him seem stupid, some of them actually make sense (well, they do to me but then I'm a writer and editor and artist, and only pick out the bits I need).
For example, if you edit 'Happenings', you get:
"You're going to be told lots of things.
You get told things every day that don't happen.
All I can tell you is,
It hasn't happened.
It's going to happen."
Which I find very scary. Especially if you put the emphasis on 'going' in the last bit.
May be a few quotes from the famous 'Rumsfeld Rules' might shed a little light ....
"Know that the amount of criticism you receive may correlate somewhat to the amount of publicity you receive. And, if you are not criticized, you may not be doing much."
"Don't be a bottleneck. If the matter is not a decision for the President or you, delegate it. Force responsibility down and out. Find problems areas, add structure and delegate. The pressure is to do the reverse. Resist it."
.... but then again, maybe not eh?
Some favourite Rumsfeldisms include, but are not limited too:
"I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started."
"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war."
It's good to laugh, but let's not forget an estimated 600,000+ innocents dead in Iraq eh Donald, in the service of making the world a safer place to live by removing the WMD's that you knew did not exist in the first place.
As Ruth says: "Oh, noh!"
Rumsfeld took the strapline when
leaving the building?
Mr Rumsfeld goes...
... "toot-toot" whenever he sees a train.
DrH - Very droll.
Jonnie - Couldn't countenance collectives that include army or colony, and I'm suspicious of knots. So perhaps we can invent our own.
I suggest "pond". Reasons: well, frogs live there, they're quite friendly (well, to a frog they are!), you get dragonflies (pretty!), they're enclosed (logical for us) yet open to others (ditto) - oh, and they're not as scary as, say an ocean.
Wolf: The ones I liked best were
A Confession
Once in a while,
I'm standing here, doing something.
And I think,
"What in the world am I doing here?"
It's a big surprise.
(This has an element of 'everyman' about it, don't you think?!)
and
The Situation
Things will not be necessarily continuous.
The fact that they are something other than perfectly continuous
Ought not to be characterized as a pause.
There will be some things that people will see.
There will be some things that people won't see.
And life goes on.
(I thought the Iraqis might like the irony contained in this one)
Strangely, I feel Donald Rumsfeld has been rather prophetic in these two offerings, don't you agree?
SSC - Love your offering!
Fred - What is this new activity "honging"? Is it legal? We need to know ...
RobbieDo - LOL
Sadly, the predictions re Rumsfeld's future are undoubtedly well founded. In modern life, the best way to get ahead is to scr** up big time, regardless of whoever else gets scr**** up as a result. Fat cats rule. Maybe that's why I prefer dogs.
Mine's currently on smoke alarm duty.
My abiding memory of Donald Rumsfeld is watching him at a Press Conference about Iraq. A reporter asked him a very clear question which he didn't want to answer, so his tactic of dealing with it? Pretended that he had developed a sudden hearing problem, couldn't hear the reporter at all and moved on to an easier question. I thought at the time that it was a nice microcosm of the entire Bush administration strategy.
I'm glad that Rummie has gone but I'm not unaware that he is being made the scape-goat for all the Iraqi problems when the entire administration is responsible. He was utterly terrible and incompetent in the position of Defence Secretary but I don't think his resignation will herald an improvement in the situation over there.
Didn't Rumsfeld used to run Haliburton, who, suprisingly, won an awful lot of contracts to "rebuild" Iraq. It's, what, 12 hours since he went, he's probably got his feet under that table already.
I am sorry to see Rumsfeld go where else would we get this quality of poetry from. To quote:
The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
鈥擣eb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing
As a writer I was gobsmacked with admiration for the wording:
'...agreed that it is TIME FOR A CHANGE OF LEADERSHIP at the Pentagon...'
What???????
He sidesteps, in a single bound (yes, I know), the question: 'Did he crawl or was he Bushed?'
You're not going to convince me the man who invented the War on Tourism thought that up all by himself.
Good riddance, I say. But like many others, I can't see anything much changing in the near future.
The most annoying truism right now is ... we are where we are.
Deepthought
Wasn't Haliburton where Dick Cheney (?sp) made his money?
SSC (12)
Exellent.
So the Engineer has got rid of the oily rag.
Or should that be the Organ Grinder disposing of the monkey?
Big deal.
Deep (41),
It was the worm Cheney who was CEO (I think) of Halliburton, and who is still in office.
and, from "Bagdhad's Missing Billions":
"But while most of the corruption allegations centre around the Iraqi money, the financial chaos also extended to projects financed by US taxpayers.
"Two early contracts - to Bechtel and Halliburton - have aroused the greatest controversy because they appeared to bypass normal rules. They were awarded their first contracts in Iraq without having to bid for them."
!
xx
ed
Re: RobbieDo (33)
Like the 'opinion' -- another one could be a 'Thread' of Froggers.
Re Rumsfeld's "poetry"
I know that it looks like c**p but before we laugh too much remember this: This man was in charge of the most powerful military machine on the planet and oversaw the entire Iraq debacle. This is scary not funny. The man could not string a sentence together let alone a coherent policy.
Anne - 31 - re calming down, have you ever tried tai chi (hee, hee!)
Lady P, re recent revelations from Fifi about editing and so on, which led to me "outing" my own labours, I wonder how many other froggers are chewing the ends of their pencils for a living?
Jonnie, how about a croak of frogs? Since we all seem to like the sound of our own voices!
So Rumsfeld has been sacked. Couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke. Bush said, in his statement yesterday, that he takes full responsibility, so why isn't he resigning? He also said he will do his best to have a bipartisan relationship with the Democrats; this was hardly a priority before. Of course, he was running a theocratic government, as bad as anything you'll find in the Middle East, but the results of the midterms have told him that facts are more important than blind adherence to beliefs which were ridiculous at the start and became more fanciful as time went on. Our own glorious leader, of course, has said "I only know what I believe." I would rather know what I know.
Deepthought (41)
Nah, that's Cheney. Speaking of whom, where has he been this year?
Damn, I missed the bit with the Israeli person last night. Sounds like our lord and master continues his good run this week.
Must try and find this 'Listen again' thingy that keeps getting mentioned hereabouts. It's probably going to need RealPlayer though :-( Auntie doesn't seem to favour Windows Media Player, despite the fact that most of us have it installed by default.
No-one has confronted the real problem with the US military machine in Iraq. It's incapable of winning that situation, because it is built for war-fighting, not peace-winning. Their entire military ethic is based around finding their enemy, fixing them in place and destroying them absolutely with overwhelming firepower. It's the same problem they faced in VietNam decades ago and they still haven't figured it out.
I've read it elsewhere this week that the individual US soldier on the ground issues orders to Iraqi civilians in their own country. Subtlety is just lost on them. Tact is an alien concept. For all the milliards of dollars spent on their technology, they are utterly inept at anything apart from destruction.
That was fine in the depths of the Cold War, when the Warsaw Pact had tens of thousands of tanks, millions of men, etc., all of which would have been rumbling across West Germany, out in the open where the find, fix, strike maxim applied. But the Cold War is over and its methods don't come close in a counter-insurgency conflict where the enemy can't be found, leaving them invulnerable to destruction.
Where does it leave us now in Iraq? Up the creek. The US military is palpably the only one in the world big enough to encompass the scale of what needs to be done, but is not fit for that purpose. It needs to be retrained from the basics upwards to learn how to fight an insurgency. And it needs to do that quickly in the middle of what is, to all intents, a civil war. Don't hold your breath.
The Western armies need to sink roots into Iraqi society at the lowest levels and win their adherence to the ideals of democracy. You just know this isn't going to happen. I foresee no improvement in the situation until we retreat with our heads down and the morale of the army wrecked.
The British General who dared to challenge the current orthodoxy was absolutely correct, until he bottled it and tried to change tack. US Generals did it too, earlier on this year. They moved the first pebble which eventually resulted in the landslide that buried Rumsfeld.
Incidentally Rumsfeld leaves a mixed legacy. Politically he may have messed up Iraq by insisting on Pentagon control of the situation there, rather than leave it to diplomats and politicians. But he DID take on the US Armed Forces over their structures, equipment and training. They were (and are) still wedded to the Cold War when he took over at the Pentagon. They were still training to fight the USSR in Germany, rather than the wars of the 21st century. It was he who foresaw that the collapse of Western communism required lighter, more mobile Armed Forces. He had the right idea, but didn't take it far enough, or quickly enough.
I understand how the guy produces polemic views from his detractors. But I think that a correct view needs to be taken. He was not a terrible or incompetent SecDef as has been alleged above. Indeed he may well have had some very correct ideas on how to reform the US military to fight a new style of conflict. But he was no sort of politician or diplomat. Once the armies of Saddam were defeated it was the latter which were required, and they are nowhere to be found. Once a war is won the soldiers should move into the background and let others forge a just peace.
Si.
What so coherent great about sentence parrot plinth?
Re collective frogs:
Not sure I like the implications about 'pond life' ...
How about this for a frog-specific strapline:
The Frog: hopping but not mad.
Robbiedo (44), You're right, It was Cheney who was defence secretary and roles with Halliburton. (I knew the situation, just got the wrong man). But no doubt a grateful Halliburton would offer a job to Rumsfeld.
Big Sister
Re your earlier query
"Honging" is a very popular, albeit rarely occurring event in Connemara on the west coast of Ireland.
About every 6 or 7 years Kilkeran Bay is the site for the blooming of a rare sea algae known locally as "hongweed". When conditions are ideal this blue-purple algae spreads to almost entirely cover the rocks around the shore.
To be useful commercially the weed must be gathered within 8 hours and the word quickly spreads throughout the local townlands - thus the phrase "Hong On"
The weed must be pulled and gathered by hand as metal reacts with the hongweed and reduces its shelflife. It is traditionally dried on wooden racks on the 鈥淗ong Fields鈥 to the east of Carna harbour
In ancient times the weed was used to make a dye that was used on the ceremonial dress worn by all the elite Irish Chieftains.
In the 17th and 18th centuries an additional use was found for the dried and powdered form of the weed - a purported cure for all gastric problems. Although the taking of "hongfuse" became very popular, in spite of the high cost, no hard evidence has ever been produced as to its efficacy.
Since the 1970's nearly 100% of the harvest has been exported to Japan. The plianates in the hongweed are extracted and used as an additive in their whiskey distilling process. Hong plianates are said to reduce the formation of calcinic sublimates. In recent years the process has been applied to Sinthu distillation as well
The process in not used in either Irish or Scottish whisk(e)y distillation.
As honging has not taken place in Kilkeran Bay since 1999 a harvest is expected in 2007. The harvest invariably takes place 2-3 weeks after the summer solstice.
Hum, my comment where I accepted my error (Rumsfeld/Cheney) but a grateful Halliburton may give R a job anyway has not appeared (in reply to Robbiedo (44))
Look up the 'Bohemian Club' and 'Bohemian Grove' on Wikipedia and check out the list of members names down the page. It includes the nice Mr. Rumsfeld, Dubya, Cheney, Karl Rove, every US President since Truman and all the usual suspects. Not to mention John Major, Prince Phillip, Arnie, Clint, Lee Kuan Yew, Neil Armstrong and Charlton Heston. What a membership.
But who's that lurking toward the bottom of the list? Paul Pelosi? That surname rimgs a bell. Couldn't be the multi-millionaire husband of the new House Speaker could he? Oh yes he could.
More food for the conspiracy theorists amongst us. Looks like another version of the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, the RAND Corporation, the World Economic Forum, the Illuminati and so on. It's like a Who's Who of American politicians and top business leaders, plus a few others.
Remember, they know where you live. And just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!
Hmmm. Now, how do I join John Twelve-Hawks (author) in living 'off the radar'?
Si.
On the collective noun for froggers, isn't it odd that us froggers hang out on the Day One beach, where real frogs don't go - they prefer fresh water. (G**gle has thown up one asian frog that tolerates salt-water). But I don't think a pond of froggers gives the right idea.
Opinion and Thread are both good, and perhaps a special "Beach of Froggers" for the Day One.
PM each day helps you work, rest and frog.
Rumsfeld's replacement is a new broom:
Robert Gates, the former director of the CIA during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, and who was tapped Tuesday by the president to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, is part of Texas's good ol' boy network. He may be best known for playing a role in arming Iraq's former dictator Saddam Hussein with American made weapons in the country's war against Iran in the 1980s.
Plus 膰a change....
xx
ed
So I think we have pretty much established that there is a fair bit of anti-Bush/Rumsfeld/Iraq situation feeling out there. Now does anyone care to speak up in favour of Mr Bush and his policy on Iraq (or should I say Eye-raq).......
..........anyone?
............Helloooo?....
..........more eerie silence...........
...........sound of tumbleweed............
No? fair enough - thought not!
One more suggestion re the collective noun thingy.
A mair of froggers
Deep (59)
Behind many good beaches is a lagoon often of 'fresh' water, perhaps "lagoon" would make a good collective? And our froggers are definitely of the tolerant variety.
There's also "parliament", literaly a 'talking'
Vaya con Agua fresca!
ed
Si (58)
From what you say, I suspect the name B***g simply got too well known, and they just changed the label.
Other elitist ***ts are available.
Ed (61)
Well worth a look, thanks for flagging it up.
Bush, Castro, Cheney and Company should resign.
I mentioned to a friend in the States that a 成人论坛 reporter in the US asked a Democrat if the party would now seek to impeach GWB to which the Democrat replied they wouldn't because Dick Cheney is the V.Prez. We know that Cheney is GWB's insurance policy against impeachment unless, Cheney becomes seriously ill and cannot fulfill the office, GWB is swiftly impeached, Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Prez.
Sounds a bit like Commander and Chief.
Regarding , Rummy's replacement, it continues a not-very-reassuring trend of spooks in high places, like Putin, Bush Sr, Condi, etc.
Al the more worrying because to be an intelligence specialist seems to imply a lack thereof, perhaps in the interests of 'objectivity'
Has al Poodle got a hidden MI6 past, I wonder?
xx (glances over shoulder)
ed
Mmm, Where can we buy this hong stuff then?
Sorry Big Sister, it's not for sale in the U.K. It was withdarwn voluntarily in 1979 and completely banned in 1981 after evidence that it was being misused.
A Birmingham manufacturer of water-cooled starting blocks for racing turkeys was adding it to the coolant. The hong pliantes corroded the casings and leaked out. A total of 13 pedigree turkeys were poisoned and had to be put down. It was quite a scandal at the time.
RobbieDo, you're causing me problems. I'm getting some very strange looks trying to stifle the snorts of laughter as I read the latest hong-ing explanation. Truly goon-esque, well done.
Si.
So, RobbieDo, does that mean I'll have to go to Japan for it? (and be very very careful how you answer ....)
According to you, the Japanese add hong to hooch .... Is the resultant drink called HongChong? I imagine one of the brands is Long Hong Whisky (or am I being silly?)
And were the turkeys drinking it?
Robbie (72) you are behind the times.
Research into safer forms of hong began in the mid-1990s. It was kept secret because of the radical turkey lobby, who it was feared would picket the laboratories and gobble ominously outside the lab workers' homes.
However early experiments determined the cause of the instability and the cautious addition of poodle poo at the quantum level solved it for good.
You can buy hong by mail order in tablet form, or in bulk as a cream from the Copper Kettle on the sea front at Dalkey. I rub mine in on a Wednesday and I'm fine till Monday.
RobbieDo - more and more wonderful. Thanks, that's my chortle levels back up for the day already.
Fifi,
Is the hong cream as good as Azazello's stuff? Does it pong?
xx
ed
Ed (77);
inevitably makes it Hong Pong Pooey!
Si.
To be honest, I've never tried Azazello's but the purer forms of hong you can get now are very effective.
You pay a little extra for the non-pong hong, obviously.
Other forms of relief are available.
I think you'll find that should be
HongChongPooey
The only true bit was about Kilkeran Bay and Connemara. They actually do harvest seaweed there and have a drying factory by the harbour. The dried seaweed is sent to somewhere in Scotland where they extract algins (?) from it for use in cosmetics I think.
Kilkeran, Carna, Manin Bay and the rest of Connemara is the most beautiful place in Ireland - and that includes Killarney, Dingle etc.
Rob,
Alginate. It also goes into ice cream and dental moulding stuff. I do recommend a visit with . for anyone who enjoys .
Salaam/Shalom/Shanthi
ed
There once was a warrior called Rumsfeld,
World renowned for not doing his sums well
Got given the wrong army
Never mastered the blarney
Then voters aimed fire below his gun-belt.
luc
Oh deary deary me! What have I started by mentioning the all-usefull Hong?!?
While I am glad that Bush and company are reeping what they sowed, it is by all means NOT OVER. The US must open its door to other political parties such as the Libertarians and Greens in order to have a truly democratic society.
Hey Ed (70) ...
What's your problem with spooks in high places?
ValeryP (50) - yes. I've been known to chew the odd pencil (tho I never swallow . . .).
I was thrilled to bits when I g*ogled (other search engines are available) myself and came up on Amazon. It was a bit like seeing myself in print for the first time, or re-reading old uni essays and thinking 'Heavens. I really sounded as if I knew what I was talking about' when the truth is actually that I do a fairly good impression of someone knowing what they're talking about . . .
xx
LadyPen
Lady P - you must have been listening into to a phone convo I was having just now with a good friend - about the fact that the things that other people are doing always sound more glamorous than the things you think you are doing yourself. She was kindly pointing out the glamorous things that I'm involved with (?) and generally making me feel better! Ah, friends, where would we be without them?
ValP (88) - I could say that I spent today talking to people in swishy art galleries about how best to market my paintings (which is what I did. And then I sat outside a cafe in the sunshine for a long time drinking coffee and reading magazines and being generally cool).
When really I was frantically trying to work out a way of earning a living because the money from the share options I cashed in earlier this year is rapidly running out and selling my body (even if it's interestingly wrapped in chicken wire and silky ribbons) isn't something I can comfortably contemplate.
(Or is it? Now THERE's a thought . . .)
PS I think I'm in love with RobbieDo.
Go, Robbie :-)
And Ed Iglehart.
And Fifi and StainlessSteelCat and Aperitif and the various Johns. And ValP. And Fred.
Go, Eric. Once you've worked out how to put all of us wonderful people together and make a TV programme you can syndicate worldwide you'll make a fortune . . .
In the meantime, the rest of us'll get to work on the pitch and cut you in on the profits if you talk to us nicely :-)
Oh Lady P. you are making me blush!
Lawks. Am I the only person still awake after the shipping forecast?
I shall sail by. And wish there was something like an instant-messagey thing or a chatroom or a pub we could all meet in. Preferably within walking distance of me. So I could appear out of nowhere wrapped in my ribbons and chicken wire and be interesting.
:-)
Aw RobbieDo . . . just stand up there and enjoy the applause :-)
(I've now got hiccups. How cool is that?)
Lady P
Just been to the beach at Day One to finish Aperitif's book.
I didn't think that life could be viewed that way. Have you read the book? I don't think I'll be able to view some things in the same way from now on!
Lady P
You can't imagine what confusion the concept of chicken wire and silky ribbon fosters.
Can you explain?
Lady P, While I agree this blog is infuriatingly slow at posting comments at times, where it not for Eric we would not have met up. Or of others who will join. Or, of course, have Eric's topics to discuss, moan about the strap-line (which I predict will appear tomorrow, or will that prevent a haiku from Mr I Kew) and the like.
Time and tide, and all that, I've got a thrilling day in Reading to look forward to - not.
Lady Penelope,
Affection reciprocated (and all round!). When I look back in my archives the sensation is that I sounded like someone who THOUGHT he knew what he was talking about....
I hope the hiccups aren't due to misbehaviour. Call a friend.
xxx
ed
Lady P - it seems that many of us have come over all overcome recently. I've just been waxing lyrical to Belinda about the powers of the frog (yes, I've started working back from the most recent entry, I used to work forwards).
I know what you mean about the instant-messagey thingy, the only drawback with the frog is the approval of the blog author business. Specially when Fifi is organising get-togethers at Belvoir and so on. Those of us in farflung parts don't have much of a hope. The posting in Fl*r is much faster, but I guess it's not really designed for that purpose. Suggestions welcome.
Do hope you got over the hiccups - I think the outfit sounds great, don't forget to strew it with buttons too (solely decorative and non-functional of course).
Well, I for one am very grateful for the delay between submissions.
It gives me a little time in which to work!
But you're all welcome to meet up at my Guestbook, which as far as I can see is instantaneous.
Our webmeister makes infrequent visits just to remove the occasional viagra advert or rude posting but otherwise doesn't interfere.
I regularly stock the Guestbook with beer, wine and other goodies, and it's handy for the chip shop too.
Feel free to drop by!
be insure
Are my ovaries the size of softballs?