Things to ponder upon

• Is it OK to listen to Radio FM after noon?
• What do you call a male ladybird?
• When pet food it 'new and improve tasting' who tastes it?
• Why doesn't glue stick to inside of the bottle?
• Why are rucksacks measure in litres - who wants to put liquid into a rucksack?
• Why isn't 'phonetic' spelt the way it sounds?
• If a firefighters fights fires and crime fighter fights crime, what does a freedom fighter fight?
• If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil
• Why when you transport goods by van is it called shipment but when goods are transported by ship it's called cargo?
• Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
• If flying is so safe why do they call the airport the terminal?
• I married a 'Miss Right', I didn't know her first name was 'always'.
• Travel first class - your heirs will.
• Encourage wild life - throw a party!

Laughter is much more important than applause - applause is almost a duty - laughter is a reward.

I've just made an 'anywhere seat' for granddaughter - as seen on marzipan.com

It took about an hour and my daughter is very pleased with - furthermore it cost absolutely nothing as was made from leftover fabric from other projects.

These are the materials needed to make this very useful item:

• half a yard strong cotton fabric for the outer
• half a yard cotton fabric for the inner
• half a yard of batting
• 5" Velcro

(1)   In outer fabric:
       Cut one long piece 37" x 6" 
       Cut one 19" x 11"
       Cut one 5.5" x 4"

(2)   Do the same for inner fabric

(3)   Do the same for the batting

The instructions on how to make up the seat are at: http://www.madebymarzipan.com/?tutorial=anywhere-chair#sthash.BmkmYVSI.dpuf
see also: 
http://blogs.babycenter.com/products_and_prizes/7-things-for-baby-you-can-make-yourself/

The parking spaces outside a Chinese shopping centre are distinctive.  Marked out in pink signposted 'respectfully 
reserved for women', they are a foot wider than normal.

The slots at the Dashijiedaduhui - or 'World Metropolis' - centre have raised question in China, where gender equality is officially embraced but old-fashioned sexism is rife in reality.

The mall, in the centre of the northern port city of Dalian, has little to distinguish itself form thousands of other retail complexes that have been built as part of a countrywide urbanisation drive.

It has chain clothing stores fast food franchises, lifts, a cinema and the inevitable Starbucks, a favourite hang-out of China's new middle class.

Unusually, though, the 10 spaces outside the main entrance were provided,after women had trouble parking in the standard basement spaces.


Apparently it's because some women have issues with parking and the management wanted to make it easier for women, who make up most of their customers.

But outraged commentators on Chinese social media have accused the retail outlet's managers of sexism.  Although China proclaims the sexes equal in keeping with Communist principles, conservative attitudes remain deeply ingrained and women are a rarity in the upper echelons of Chinese politics and the ruling party.

Advertisements in the world's biggest car market are invariably aimed at male buyers (as they are here in the UK!), and a customer at the retail outlet maintained that women don't really know how to park a car and often ignore their mirrors.


Driving standards in China are often lamentable, regardless of gender.  According to state media reports, 60,000 people died on the roads in 2012.

The parking initiative is not unprecedented - other countries have similar female-dedicated spaces, including South Korea and various European nations (I wish they had them here in Britain).


According to a World Health Organisation estimate last year, 77% of all road traffic deaths occur among men.  Even so, for some social media users the Dalian parking places amounted to discrimination against male drivers.  
'It's always women who enjoy privileges', complained one blogger, and went on the say 'now men have become the weaker sex.'

http://metro.co.uk/2014/07/19/shopping-centre-introduces-wider-pink-ringed-parking-spots-for-women-4804035/

It seems we do have at least one such car park in Britain: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/women-only-parking-bays-backed-918634

A few laughs: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTKFaBvW6oc and 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf4TIWECZ30
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7nc2uuqSsg

What do the likes of Rod Stewart do on their days off?

Rod Stewart in his 'day job'

Despite every effort of publicists to persuade us otherwise, rock start are people, too.  In a recent interview in The Telegraph with Briony Gordon, Ronnie Wood's wife, Sally, admitted that when Ronnie's not tending his wisteria, the couple like to stay in of an evening doing jigsaw puzzles and watching TV box sets.

Briony was only lucky that Ronnie didn't pull out his stamp collection, for the former crack, smack and booze-crazed guitar-slinger is a noted philatelist, a hobby enjoyed by Freddie Mercury and John Lennon.

Bill Wyman metal detecting

The Rolling Stones seem unabashed about gathering moss off stage.  Former bassist Bill Wyman potters about the countryside with a metal detector looking for objects even older than the band. Mick Jagger enjoys a game of cricket, where he is sometimes joined on the village green for an innings by drummer Charlie Watts, who only listens to Radio 3 at home.  Keith Richards is a history buff who professes to like nothing better than getting his nose into a good Second World War tome, although the hard-living hedonist makes even reading sound like a dangerous pursuit.  The Stones had to postpone a tour in 1998 after Keith Richards fell off a ladder in his library.

Keith Richard in his library

Every rock star has a boring side.  No one can keep up an unrelenting diet of sex, drugs and rock & roll, at least if they make it past the life fast, die young phase.  Life is long, recording and touring are filled with tedious stretches where nothing much is done, and surely even hell-raisers  need a hobby/  So what do you do to take your mind off things if your job is the kind of leisure pursuit other people fantasise about?


Building model railways is very popular among rockers of a certain vintage.  Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Phil Collins and Roger Daltrey all have elaborate train sets, with Stewart stating in his autobiography that making the December 2010 cover of Model Railroader was 'a major career milestone .... getting on the front of Rolling Stone had nothing on this.'  Elton John collects porcelain.  Kylie plays Scrabble.  Grandmaster Flash collects souvenir mugs.  

Justing Timberlake practising his swing

And there is an awful lot of golf being played by people who would never be seen in public wearing checked trousers.   Alice Cooper has a handicap of 5.3.  He could put in a round with Meatloaf, Eddie Van Halen, Justin Timberlake, Roger Waters, Mick Fleetwood, Snoop Dogg and maybe even Bob Dylan, although he has a handicap of 17.


Perhaps rock stars, who act out a teenage fantasy existence, long for the lives they once rebelled against?  

Hobbies are an opportunity to play at being grown-ups, without having to do any of the tedious stuff.  But while glimpses into domesticity once seemed strange and tantalising, their paradoxical allure lessens with each revelation of homebody dullness.  

Bob Dylan with his metal work

With the 24/7 access demanded by fans in the era of social networking, stars are going to have to find some more interesting hobbies, like Jack White's taxidermy, and Dylan's sheet metal work.  How many selfies to you want to see of an outlaw hero tending begonias?

Neil McCormick from the Telegraph