Please - not anything I've done or am in any way responsible for...but if you've been wronged by someone in some way, or there's been a problem in the past with a third party...let me know on the blog and I'll publicly apologise.
Sorry the comments link below has been broken...and for SO long. Let me start by apologising for that.
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Thank you for the apology Dr Muir - we were most frustrated. Was it the technology again? Did Richard fix it?
Talking of apologies -
When we were little my sister and I were on the beach (No not THE beach, the beach at Happisburgh in Norfolk) and my sister found a delightfully smelly old fish which she put in the family beach bag. When our Mum found it, neither of us would own up so she sent us away to decide who did it. Somehow, my sister persuaded me to take the blame (I was only 4 at the time).
I'm sure I'm owed an apology for the deep scar this has left on me (and she does sometimes visit the blog....)
Eddie; I don't know about apologising but I'd like to congratulate you (if somewhat tardily) for the two pieces you did about Nick Clarke last week. I heard the WatO one the morning afterwards, and your own PM one whilst driving up the M40 on Thursday evening.
The former, along with all the other contributors, did much to remind us of NC's accomplishments as a journalist & broadcaster.
The elegiac quality of the latter informed us, perhaps many of us who did not know him personally, about the character of the man behind the mic. I was wistfully amused to hear own some of his personal foibles; the coffee hardliner; the food critic; the 大象传媒 travel restrictions; the hotel pillows and many more. I wonder if he wouldn't have found a natural second (or third, or fourth) home on 'Grumpy Old Men'! (A programme with which I often find myself in total agreement).
Your summations, both of the man and the colleague, rounded out the impression that many of us would have had from our radios and confirmed what an appalling loss his early death is.
It seems strange to make the comment at such a time, but well done on both counts.
Si.
Not to me, Eddie, but you KNOW you must apologize to that nice, gentle, hard-done-by Esther for so cruelly enslaving her and stripping her of her entire heritage, culture, religion, way of life ...
In fact, even an unreserved apology won't do. You must repair the damage.
And I'm sorry, but that means coughing up some money.
Bet you wish you hadn't offered now!
An apology for this blog site wouldn't go amiss.
But Eddie,
Now that you've apologised should we be sueing you for the harm it has done us?
This appears to be the main reason why public apologies are off the menu, but expressions of sorrow are on.
Very dreadful things have been done in the past by people of all colours and nationalities to each other. Where possible criminals should always be brought to justice and made to 'pay their debt to society' - which rarely means financial compensation.
However, when the wrong was done hundreds of years ago, as with the enslavement of black Africans, does it really make sense to demand that the descendants of the one who committed the atrocity be held accountable?
Yes it is dreadfully unfair if that descendant now lives in luxury while the victim's descendant does not. But how far back should we go to hold someone accountable? This is a very real dilemma, and to ask the question is not in any way to deny or justify the suffering.
When as a child I would say 'That's not Fair !', my father would say 'Well life's not fair, you just have to get used to it'. And in case anyone thinks that remark is made frivolously, I should perhaps add that he was a pacifist relief worker who was among the first people into Belsen. He knew at first hand what atrocity was.
Hmmm, let's see, nope, you'll have to give me some time, I'll get back to you.
Anne P,
I hope it isn't unto seven generations... and my brother says (from the AA acrchive, I believe)
"Fair is a word only used by losers."
xx
ed
Eddie, can you apologise for that former work colleague I was briefly (I didn't write half of the goings-on) complaining about bitterly in a previous thread? Due to their actions over a period of a year or so, I developed severe depression, and was in such a state that my husband and I made the decision to move us 300 miles away just to save my sanity. I feel I am owed an apology or at least payment for the big therapy bills...
Sorry, that turned out more personal than I intended.
Can you also apologise for the KitKat company (Nestle is it?) since they changed the wrapping and got rid of the lovely foil that you could slide your finger nail down?
While I'm thinking - did you know Laurie's just sent HIS newsletter out 2 days EARLY? Perhaps whoever does his could do PM's too?
Mind you, it brought me up short, I thought I'd just lost 2 days, whilst exploring Jonnie's pmblogextra! Bill'n'Ben, that audio clip is superb, and Fifi's video too - they friends of yours?
Following gossipmistresses comment (2) after a game of rounders/cricket on the green in front of our house, it was time to go indoors. I was probably being impossibly bossy, and Andrew wasn't taking any of that from me, so he dropped the house keys down a drain and we were locked out. When my mum arrived, he had no hesitation in blaming me, and I was punished by being sent straight to bed without anything to eat. To be honest, it was the summer holidays, and I recall being far more concerned that I was missing the evening's events on the green than my supper!
I remember being stunned by the lie at the time, honesty was highly valued in our house, but Andrew was probably 4 or 5 at the time, so it is completely comprehensible with hindsight. I now find it funny (as long as everyone knows it wasn't actually me what done it you understand!)and so mentioned it again to produce a laugh, only to find that he still feels guilty now.
My now-not-so-little brother has apologised more than once, and I have even forgiven him, but perhaps Eddie, if you could do it for him, absolution might be reached!
Who is Esther BTW?
Hi Eddie, can you apologise on behalf of my first serious boss when I entered industry? He thought is right that I be sent to Germany for the day without any company credit card or cash, then arrange for me to miss the last flight back. I was left stranded at the old Dusseldorf airport (before it was redeveloped) with no money for a hotel. I ended up having to spend the night on the concourse, not able to sleep, as I had a laptop with me, and couldn't afford to let it get nicked....
You don't owe me an apology for anything Eddie but could you get someone french on your programme to apologise for the fact that way back in 1975 a group of french people stole the seats for which a group of my friends and I had tickets at the Bolshoi in Moscow. They refused to move and even in the intervals when some of them went to the bar or the loo the rest of them made little human barricades at either end of the line where we should have been sitting. Traviata is a long opera to stand through especially when seething with indignation because you have tickets entitling you to a seat.I am sorry to say that I have hated the french ever since and even just writing this makes my teeth clench and my blood pressure rise. I suspect that this is somnething for which I will never get 'closure' so I will just have to carry on hating them.
And while they're apologising for that perhaps they'd like to say sorry for their farmers burning all those sheep while they were still alive.
Can you apologize for my sore shoulder?
Strictly speaking it was caused by SO's daughter joining us in bed last night, but she's only three so I don't really want to blame her...
I think you should apologise for the Union of England and Scotland. Just look at the trouble that's caused. All your fault.
If this appears a second time you can apologise for the error message as well
xx
Re: (5) p.Elliot
My Dear you must be my long lost sister Pamela ? Luckily you capitilise your initial my Dear! I'd never be that bold myself.
Perhaps the British Broadcasting Corporation could divulge your e-mail address so we can again meet.
Ed may also like to apologise for the fact that I may have been a little greedy in claiming all the paintings from our dear Mothers house.
You must get in contact, what was it Anne our dear Sister used to say of you ? Oh Yes;
A crookit stick will thraw a crookit shadow.
It's my brother Gavins 40th Birthday today and all I got him was a gift certificate!
Please apologise to him for having a very unimaginative sister.
I'm sure Alex Salmond would welcome another opportunity to amuse us on this evening's programme. No doubt your fanbase of Scots, both native and adoptive (count me in), would welcome it.
Yours Aye
ed
If you can't get him, you can give his apologies.
Or, you could apologise for
Ok since it appears to be broke again I'd like you to apologise for:
late trains
dirty public lavatories,
grumpy salespersons
instruction manuals
council tax
politicians
hotel food
ineffectual information technology
unkept promises
unkind thoughts
Christmas starting in November
dark nights and dark mornings
wet Airedales
I could go on ... oops - I have!
There may be trouble ahead.
Ooh yes, Christmas in November.
A couple of weeks ago, my bus connection failed me (cause for another apology but I'll bring that up later), and I ended up going around a major shopping centre in the nearest city to where I live. Now admittedly, I hate shopping, crowds and gross commercialism, so I may be playing the part of Mrs Scrooge here, but there were groups of carol singers, all the shop-assistants were wearing festive hats, there was a three-mile queue to see Father Christmas and all the kids had those dreadful flashing stick things which play tinny-sounding christmas songs. I actually stopped and asked the tinsel-clad lady on Information whether it was November 13th...
Yes.
I'd like you to apologise for that wasp that stung me on Sennan Beach all those years ago.
I'd also like financial reparation for the total embarassment of having to be treated at the lifeguard hut......
Or should that be the lifeguards wanting compensation for having to treat me for a wasp sting There.....
Oh I dunno.
Six of one, half a dozen of the other I suspect.
Eddie, what about the England 'drinking team' off playing so-called test cricket in Australia? An apology on their behalf would be a start.
During the WWI my grandpa lived on a farm owned by his parents in Essex. To aid the war effort the government took the farm machinery for armament manufacture, the horses for the war and the men to fight. My great-grandfather and one son died of the Spanish Flu. My great-grandmother had to sell what was left (precious little) and move in with her parents in London.
I should have been a wealthy Essex landowner. Now I am not.
You can apologize if you like. But I suspect it wont make any difference if you do. Compensation, on the other hand...
APOLOGISE FOR NOTHING!
Eddie Piaf x
I'd like to apologise for all those disastrous Conservative leaders who let the voting public down by not being a good alternative to Tone and his mates
Admin Annie, the new new beach has gone bonkers on me so am using this space to apologise for suggesting you were idle, and hope you land here sometime. If not, perhaps Eddie could do the job for me?!
Apologise for all those people who say "I can only apologise" when what you want them to do is recompense you for their appalling service, work done, or missed delivery!
Mary
I was never invited to the first or second one - now you rub it in about a third party? Shameless.
...well, I guess I should apologise for this. But it's fun & spooky..!
At the end of this message, you are asked a question.
Answer it immediately. Don't stop and think about it.
Just say the first thing that pops into your mind.
This is a fun "test"... AND kind of spooky at the same time!
Give it a try, then e-mail it around and you'll see how many people
you know fall into the same percentage as you.
Be sure to put in the subject line if you are among the 98% or the 2%. You'll understand what that means
after you finish taking the test".
Now... just follow the instructions as quickly as possible.
Do not go to the next calculation before you have finished the previous
one..
You do not ever need to write or remember the answers, just do it using your mind.
You'll be surprised.
Start:
How much is:
15 + 6
3 + 56
89 + 2
12 + 53
75 + 26
25 + 52
63 + 32
I know! Calculations are hard work, but it's nearly over..
Come on, one more!
123 + 5
QUICK! THINK ABOUT A COLOR AND A TOOL!
Scroll further to the bottom....
A bit more...
You just thought about a red hammer!, didn't you?
If this is not your answer, you are among 2% of people who have a different, dare I say... abnormal, mind.
98% of folks would answer 鈥渞ed hammer鈥 while doing this exercise.
Go on, pass this 鈥榬ound. You'll see.
I'm abnormal. I thought about a blue wrench. I'm not sure what that says about me though...
Thought for the day ...
Does an apology that is compiled by computer from bits of audio files and then played over the tannoy actually count as an true apology? Who is it that is feeling the remorse?
You might want to apologise for Shrub before the hounds get him.
FOCUS | Waxman Has Bush Administration in Sights
"Congressman Henry Waxman has spent the last six years waging a guerrilla campaign against the White House and its corporate allies, launching searing investigations into everything from military contracts to Medicare prices from his perch on the Government Reform Committee. In January, Waxman becomes committee chairman - and thus the lead Congressional hound of an administration many Democrats feel has blundered badly as it expanded the power of the executive branch."
But then again, you might not.
Yours Aye
ed
Piper,
And what if you have half of it i.e. a 'red trowel' ? so half of me is with the 98% and half is 2% - or is it all or nothing.
I had just finished reading a gardening magazine!
Aghhh! Piper (29), you got me! Even whilst I was muttering Red Hammer, there was a little voice in the back of my mind shouting "Don't say Red Hammer, it's a trick!!"
I must remember to say Green Screwdriver next time this one comes up.
I have done this before, and got a completely different answer from that postulated.(Sorry just had a day at the hospital, not entirely recovered) Both times.
So of course that makes me superwoman. Not
Rosalind
Oh well - that's just made my day - I thought of a YELLOW one!
Apologies for shouting.
Belinda - I'm nearly with you - blue chisel!
As psychologist Abraham Maslow famously said "If you've only got a hammer, you'll tend to treat every problem as a nail."
I thought of a green screwdriver, for whatever it's worth.
xx
ed
Belinda 31, Anne P 33, what this shows is that you cannot be manipulated (entirely...) which is very good (I think)...
In response to Gill Hoffman, Hamas has also responded favourably:
""As for the missiles, I have spoken about this before. Palestine is willing to co-operate on the issue, stopping missile attacks in exchange for Israel stopping its attacks on Gaza and the West Bank," Mr Meshaal said.
"With regards to a ceasefire, it should be placed in the context of a political negotiation that allows Palestinians to feel that they have a chance to regain their rights."
He also pretended that the prisoners being offered release were all convicted. What about all those held in "administrative detention" without trial or conviction? There are hundreds of these, including women and children
"As of November 2006, Israel is holding approximately 700 Palestinians in administrative detention. Most of them are held in facilities run by the Israel Prison Service (IPS)."
Salaam/Shalom
ed
Okay, as the rest of the fellow froggers will no doubt attest, I'm a bit strange, having thought of a red screwdriver :p
well possibly everyone who thought of a screwdriver, as I did myself, is just a great fan of Dr Who. Mine was orange by the way.
Helen, no apologies needed. How was the dentist?
Who was it who said
' never apologise or explain"?
I shan't .
That makes me a boring old f**t, because I answered with something very similar to a crimson naildriver.
Bugger, off to the beach.
I thought of a blue saw. Aunt Dahlia are we therefore distant relations?
Ta Annie, & I'm sore but not defeated, with many more 拢拢拢's more to go though I fear, & I have good teeth!
Dear Eddie,
May I apologise to you for troubling you?
Big Sis
oooh the irony, which actually has just struck me. I heard the woman from the Beaufort Hunt and countryside alliance for the third time on the headlines of TWT, saying 'Of course one doesn't condone violence'.
Well of course one doesn't, unless one is on horseback careering through the countryside and encouraging a pack of dogs to tear a fox to pieces.
I had a picture of a blue trowel in my mind but said "Blue shovel" aloud. Should I apologise for this?
Eddie, you can apologise for leaving my love unrequited. If that's not third party enough for you, you can do so on behalf of Johnny Depp.
Appy, I do think you're being just a teeny bit greedy. Eddie AND Johnny Depp?
Can't fault your taste though!
Of course I am, Admin Annie: a girl has to keep her options open. There's the obvious - Mr Clooney - too, and several less likely contenders, but I shan't go into those here: I don't want Eddie to know how inexclsuive this club really is...
I came up with a light oak mortice gauge.
Good Morning,
Have had to turn wireless off. Sickened and appalled. Can't find anyone awake and need to fill mind with trivia quickly.
Admin Annie 49(but doesn't look anything like it)
Yes, That woman, made me howl with laughter. Obviously thought that rioting yobs shouldn't be treated like rioting yobs because they are rioting for a frightfully good reason. Riot police are there to stop the riot without suffering harm themselves oddly enough, this involves violence. Go figure!
Now where is that damned ?
Do you think it'll ?
More .
xx
ed
Susan O-B: And then what did you do?
Aunt Dahlia,
methinks you were listening to that scientist who was on about experimenting on animals. I didn't hear all of it, just some. I would have had slightly more sympathy with him if, when asked if he had ever felt guilty about experimenting on animals,he had given a more equivocal no.
I think you should apologise for the fact that yesterday鈥檚 newsletter got to me this morning. Has anyone else noticed that it seems to rotate in degree of promptness?
EdI, I like the thing with the blue holey handle, could do with one of them, and the sticky thing, and someone we know needs a hat... werry useful link.
Well I was left sitting on a plane for over an hour on Sunday due to a delay of some unexplained sort! Had to travel out with my boss for a business meeting yesterday. With this being my first ever night away from my kiddiwinks I was hoping to get a good long uninteruppted sleep but my boss insisted in giving me the city tour, I got to bed so late I got less sleep than at home! So apologies from Iberia please for that if you don't mind. And just to put a tin lid on it I was then delayed on my way back!
While we are on the subject Eddie please accept my apologies for my absence yesterday - I was wandering aimlessly around Barcelona airport at the time.......Sorry sir!
PS. Apertif - I thought you were familiar! we are members of the same club....!
Red power drill for me, Piper. Sorry. Mind you, I think it had a hammer action on it.
Yellow slide rule.
What this says of me I hate to think ....
Kit (60),
Did you spot the hat had found its head later?
That was the crucks of the matter.
Doc H 58 - yup, I noted that somewhere last week, and behold this week I'm getting them through nice and early - 12.30ish!
Could you apologise for the snake that gave Eve the apple?
Doc & Val, newsletter only took an hour today, but auto-response for an email to the programme took three hours yesterday. I think it's down to GCHQ having to parse them...
Salaam (maybe that's why? ;-)))
ed
(66) And yet mine for today has not arrived as yet.
PM's "window on the world"
My garden contains possible 100,000 plants. If I were to take a randomly selected photograph of one of them the chances are that you would get a very very boring shot of ordainary lawn grass.
This is the horticultural analogy of the idea of asking listeners to take a photo of "whatever they happen to be looking at when the program starts".
What a completely stupid fatuous idea. What more boring passtime could there be than to wade through such a mound of utter trivia!
I am a photographer. Photography should be a statement, art, instrucive or entertaining. Simply pointing the camera at random and shooting is at best idiotic and at worst totally idiotic, boring and a complete waste of everyon's time.
For god's sake program designers, please TRY to earn your salary.
Berny Marsden
Bolton.
What a shame Berny doesn't like the spirit of the idea. BTW, I get my PM newsletter regularly and promptly, & didn't realise there was any issue with it until I encountered my fellow froggers here, perhaps I could take ownership of circulating it Eddie? I am just at home writing a dissertation at the moment and desperately in need of displacement activity.
Oh dear. I mean, I'm not especially excited about it (for reasons given above and more), but really Berny Marsden - who elected you Head of What Photography Should Be?
Berny:
"What a completely stupid fatuous idea. What more boring passtime could there be than to wade through such a mound of utter trivia!"
Praise indeed!
ed
Berny - Corrections
My garden contains possible (POSSIBLY or A POSSIBLE) 100,000 plants. If I were to take a randomly selected photograph of one of them the chances are that you would get a very very boring shot of ordainary (ORDINARY) lawn grass.
This is the horticultural analogy of the idea of asking listeners to take a photo of "whatever they happen to be looking at when the program starts".
What a completely stupid fatuous idea. What more boring passtime (PASTIME) could there be than to wade through such a mound of utter trivia!
I am a photographer. Photography should be a statement, art, instrucive (INSTRUCTIVE) or entertaining. Simply pointing the camera at random and shooting is at best idiotic and at worst totally idiotic, boring and a complete waste of everyon's (EVERYONE'S) time.
For god's (CAPITAL G please) sake program (PROGRAMME - this is not a computer program) designers, please TRY to earn your salary.
As it says on your website: "Photography has never been easier or quicker to learn. No more waiting weeks to see the results. Now you get instant feedback and can see your successes and mistakes". The same is true of English. There has been no charge for this service.
Please also correct the (DIGITAL) PHOTOGRAPHY title on your home page.
(Other opinions are available)
Berny -
Life is made up of the utterly trivial. It is only by looking at the ordinary in isolation and with an open mind that one can start to appreciate it, to see that it has a value of its own, and not just as an adjunct of your existence. Otherwise we're all walking through dead leaf litter, all bricks are the same and someone else has to say something is worth looking at before it starts to be beautiful.
I would agree with Aunt Dahlia (75) entirely & taking pleasure in small things is good for our mental health. I would also moot that there is nothing trivial about trivia, it is the stuff life, and documented by one of my favourite photographers, Martin Parr
Without the mundane and ordinary we would have a lot less art, music and no Raymond Carver which really would be a crime!
Thanks RobbieJohnDo (74) for making the relevant corrections, it was very irritating to have our photography policed at all, but especially when the language really jarred. Are you in the woods too tonight? It's a bit lonely on the beach so I popped in here instead.
I just LOVE Berny's letter! For a minute there I thought perhaps it was our old friend P Elliot in disguise, rattling the bars of our cages again, but I guess if he's got a website then he must be real? So what a fantastic endorsement of this blog, & Eddie's seemingly endless procession of pointless activities for us to participate in (bad grammar but it's late & I just don't care tonight).
There can be no clearer indication of the division between those who enjoy the blog & the programme for what they are (quirky, pointless, time-wasting sometimes, but also funny & often thought-provoking) & others who just don't get it.
Best keep listening to the Today programme Berny. I'm sure they don't encourage frivolous photography.
Annasee
Only problem is that Berny will probably never see his post or our replies because he has posted to the wrong blog/thread. Should have been the one before this.
EdI - With a little time in hand, I've just been checking out your lovely pics. What bliss!
Incidentally, we may be doing something cruck-wise soon here in West Sussex..... Will keep you posted.
Big Sis
RobbieJohnDo - so even the "experts" make mistakes with their technology ? Wrong thread, tsk tsk. I still bet he listens to Today though.
You were blogging late last night! (or is it different in Ireland? don't think so.) So much to catch up on when I got in , have to skim read it all!
RJD, if you ever find here again, my contribution in reply to poor berny was as near as I'm going to get to mission wallybollocks - and I should have prefaced it with ' Hello birds., hello trees, hello sky, sa Fotherington Thomas'