The inspiration for this post has come from Grannymar’s posts. She has this wonderful ability of taking ordinary daily events and making very interesting posts about them.
I decided to emulate her with some of the things that strike me as odd, and realized that by right they should be classified as whines and so, with Conrad’s permission, I have decided to use his Whine Bar trade mark to post some whines.
A friend of mine belongs to a Religious Sect and she sent me an email with the beginning ‘A retired Indian devotee….’ I could not resist the temptation to mail her back and ask her for details. I asked her if he was a retired Indian, or a retired devotee or what? The background to this banter is her ribbing me about my current occupation – that of a retired hippy. She of course believes that it is an oxymoron! Now, there is something for a Retired English Teacher, David at ‘From the Magpie’s Nest’to whom, I might as well ask if he is a retired Englishman or a retired teacher or what!
Having got rid of that mail, I read the newspapers and came across some really odd things like underpass, foot over bridge and a few others which offended my sense of the aesthetic. So, I shot off a couple of letters to the editors, knowing fully well that they will not be published. I asked of course, why words like subway cannot be used and whether a bridge can be under something or the other, besides whether there are any arm over bridges to his knowledge.
Then came the icing on the cake. Another friend sent me a mail in response to my post on love as to why I did not delve deeper into the phenomenon of lust. I have assured him, that Conrad’s hawk eyes will not miss the opportunity to respond via a comment on this post to that query, as I would rather not respond. I hope that Conrad does not let me down.
Before I sign off, let me recommend a wonderful book by Lynne Truss called Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
“A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
“Why? asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
“I am a panda,” he says at the door. “Look it up.”
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
“Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”
Since Conrad believes that a lot of exchanges should take place in our blogs, I leave this post with the fervent hope that my readers will respond with their own whines of similar nature.
