Re: Mark Thomas: My Life in Serious Organised Crime was Re: I have been busy.

On 2007-03-31, Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

snip

Who me, being stupidly picky? Why not? It's Friday
and I didn't get to watch Crackerjack, so of course I'm sulking.

No-one can watch that program any more.

<cough> I know that spelling matters are best ignored on Usenet, but
really - *you* know better than that, don't you?

I know what you mean, and normally I am careful about differentiating; but
my Collins (sic) Westminster Dictionary 'allows' both indiscriminately.

Pah! My Concise Oxfrod says that's the US form only, but does allow
that the US form is usually used for `computer program'. I've never had
time for the sloppiness of Collins dictionaries.

I defer to the OED, of course, but only as a record of usage not as an
arbiter. However, I concur with your usage as a general rule and can only
claim tiredness in mitigation.

Anyway, various places on the Web say it started in 1955, but the Beeb
says '57, and it stopped in 1984. I was 17 when Winston Smith started
his diary, so I had other things on my mind at the time (okay, beer,
girls, motorcycles, and bloody bloody /bloody/ integration.).

Which could explain a few things,
I suppose.

Probably has something to do with the rise of gun crime and crack
dealing. Give the kids more cabbages, that's the trick.

Absolutely. And a pencil if they're really lucky.

By the time I recall the thing, they were up to a Crackerjack pencil
*and* pen.

Biros were costly novelties in my day. There were cheap imitations by the
time I was old enough to be expected to use a real pen for schoolwork, but
they were specifically banned by the schools (who still provided ink, in
the form of sticky powder that had to be mixed with water, and steel
nibs, although most kids used fountain-pens by then).

[snip]

I staged an impromptu illegal mass
demonstration of one in Parliament Square yesterday; I was protesting at
having to wait for lots of cars before I could cross the road, but I was
so quiet and well-behaved that I think I got away with it.

<chuckle>

Rowland.

I was even wearing a black hat.

Ah, but did it have a political slogan on it? Do tell me `yes' - but
only visible under far UV of the sort that can't get through the
atmosphere.

Retrospectively (the most subtle form of protest?) the entire hat was
imbued with symbolism. It indicated that I was prepared to move around
out of doors without taking shelter in a car. It is also made of natural
bio-degradeable and possibly "organic" material - kangaroo leather. The
wide flat brim effectively obscures one's face from "security cameras"
mounted above head height. In conjunction with a full beard and a
distinctive walking-stick I'm sure that a general air of non-conformity
must have been apparent.

Who knows what the cameras missed while they were tracking me?

Next time I go to that area, perhaps I should make a point of eating a
biscuit with a provocative word incorporated in it. "Peace" (on the icing
of a cake) has a precedent, but I'd be inclined to try something different
to see if eg "Love" is also "political".

Rowland.
(who didn't make a mistake accidentally up there)

Must have missed it.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.