General Chit Chat

[Montreal Wanderer]

I drove from Woburn (absolutely lovely) to Cardiff Bay (great, so long as you stay in the immediate Bay area but rough as a bear's patouche just one step out of there. I went via Oxford, no comments needed, Abingdon, magnificent, and then the A34 & M4.

The first leg involved a trip through a town I've always assumed to be a really lovely market town County town of super-rich, super sorted Buckinghamshire no less. What an absolute shithole. I was stunned. Now, THAT deserves the attention of the social commentary of our man of Wokingham.

Where, come on tell me please.

On a more positive note we 'discovered' (I doubt it was truly lost) a town called Cowbridge about 6 miles to the west of Cardiff. Utterly lovely. Recommended ... despite it being Welshish (though no sign whatsoever of that infernal language nor the tits who promote it).

Is that Aylesbury? It seemed nice enough the last time I was there. Mind you it could have gone downhill in the last 50 years.

[Lord Kangana]

Yeah, I can confirm, Aylesbury is a bit down at heel, to say the least.

[Bruce Rioja]

It's Diesel Dick.

Only to the classless.

[bwfcdan94]

Not been, i'll go especially at some point in the near future. Decided against doing this book. Thanks Bobo

[bobo the clown]

I can't be 'angry' as it doesn't affect us but grab a look at this ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-fr ... e-28753503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greece's new education minister says he wants to put an end to the problem of "eternal students" - tens of thousands of people who have been enrolled at university for years without graduating.

Andreas Loverdos has ordered anyone who has spent longer than 11 years on courses that should last five years or less to be struck off all university registers in September - and he insists there'll be no extensions "for petty political reasons". Loverdos says this could affect as many as 180,000 people, some of whom have been "studying" since the 1950s. OECD figures say fewer than 20% of Greeks graduate

I love Greece, but it's a shoddily run place.

[Worthy4England]

I can't be 'angry' as it doesn't affect us but grab a look at this ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-fr ... e-28753503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greece's new education minister says he wants to put an end to the problem of "eternal students" - tens of thousands of people who have been enrolled at university for years without graduating.

Andreas Loverdos has ordered anyone who has spent longer than 11 years on courses that should last five years or less to be struck off all university registers in September - and he insists there'll be no extensions "for petty political reasons". Loverdos says this could affect as many as 180,000 people, some of whom have been "studying" since the 1950s. OECD figures say fewer than 20% of Greeks graduate

I love Greece, but it's a shoddily run place.

Studying at Uni since the 1950's - if they were 18 when they started, they'd be 82...

That's worse than some of our great unwashed.

[LeverEnd]

I can't be 'angry' as it doesn't affect us but grab a look at this ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-fr ... e-28753503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greece's new education minister says he wants to put an end to the problem of "eternal students" - tens of thousands of people who have been enrolled at university for years without graduating.

Andreas Loverdos has ordered anyone who has spent longer than 11 years on courses that should last five years or less to be struck off all university registers in September - and he insists there'll be no extensions "for petty political reasons". Loverdos says this could affect as many as 180,000 people, some of whom have been "studying" since the 1950s. OECD figures say fewer than 20% of Greeks graduate

I love Greece, but it's a shoddily run place.

Studying at Uni since the 1950's - if they were 18 when they started, they'd be 82...

That's worse than some of our great unwashed.

So their graduation rate is slightly better than their tax collection rate at least.

[thebish]

talk of supermarkets reminded of my recent hols in the Lakes...

went shopping with middle son - and introduced him to the never-failingly hilarious prank of secretly placing embarassing items (condoms, anusol, feminine itch-cream...) in other peoples' shopping trolleys and then following them to the checkout...

sometimes embarassment leads them to say nothing
more hilariously - they protest - "I didn't put that in there!" (best if it's a couple...)

it ranks alongside the arrange the herbs to spell a naughty word prank... or the doctor every calculator in staples so that it says the word BOOBLESS prank... or setting every single giggling elmo off and then running away...

[Bruce Rioja]

The offsprings of a few colleagues pick up their GCSE results today and have been texting them through.

Question;

Are there any grades other than A - Star, A & B these days?

A - Star is still Spinal Tap's 11 on the amplifier as far as I'm concerned.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

One must conclude that kids today are far smarter than our generation

[Bijou Bob]

Yes there are other grades. My son got c's in maths and English. He's not particularly academic, but as I've just told him, I'm really proud of him passing and he'll never, ever be asked for his grades after he's been offered his first job.

I'll always remember the trainee transport manager we took on years ago. 23 years old, First class honours degree in applied mathematics from Bristol Uni. Day one, first question, "I've got a puncture, how do I change a tyre"?

[Athers]

The offsprings of a few colleagues pick up their GCSE results today and have been texting them through.

Question;

Are there any grades other than A - Star, A & B these days?

A - Star is still Spinal Tap's 11 on the amplifier as far as I'm concerned.

BBC says 6.7% of grades were A*s, seems OK to me really.

[Bruce Rioja]

The offsprings of a few colleagues pick up their GCSE results today and have been texting them through.

Question;

Are there any grades other than A - Star, A & B these days?

A - Star is still Spinal Tap's 11 on the amplifier as far as I'm concerned.

BBC says 6.7% of grades were A*s, seems OK to me really.

So A's then!

[Montreal Wanderer]

I can't be 'angry' as it doesn't affect us but grab a look at this ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-fr ... e-28753503" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Greece's new education minister says he wants to put an end to the problem of "eternal students" - tens of thousands of people who have been enrolled at university for years without graduating.

Andreas Loverdos has ordered anyone who has spent longer than 11 years on courses that should last five years or less to be struck off all university registers in September - and he insists there'll be no extensions "for petty political reasons". Loverdos says this could affect as many as 180,000 people, some of whom have been "studying" since the 1950s. OECD figures say fewer than 20% of Greeks graduate

I love Greece, but it's a shoddily run place.

Studying at Uni since the 1950's - if they were 18 when they started, they'd be 82...

That's worse than some of our great unwashed.

He didn't say "since 1950" - our eternal student could have been born in 1941. That's not so old, eh TD?

[bobo the clown]

So, some could be a mere 73 at best. Why's haven't they retired ??

[Montreal Wanderer]

So, some could be a mere 73 at best. Why's haven't they retired ??

I understand most Greek retire in their 50s with good pensions (hence the recent crisis), but neither this nor their age would prevent them being students, would it?

[thebish]

oooof! that's gonna smart a bit...

a 19lb baby born in 2009...

[TANGODANCER]

A word is irritating me. The word is "momentarily". It shouldn't be a problem in the sense that in the English language it means , as I've always known it, "briefly, for a little while, for a short time" or however else you want to put it" Why then, do our cousins across the pond, ie the good old U.S of A, have it meaning "shortly, in a flash, before you know it etc, etc.?

The two meanings aren't the same, so why is the same word used? My question come from reading Frederick Forsythe's "The Cobra" which makes it all the more irritating as Forsythe is English and uses the American meaning. Granted, he's writing about America, but even so......

[Montreal Wanderer]

A word is irritating me. The word is "momentarily". It shouldn't be a problem in the sense that in the English language it means , as I've always known it, "briefly, for a little while, for a short time" or however else you want to put it" Why then, do our cousins across the pond, ie the good old U.S of A, have it meaning "shortly, in a flash, before you know it etc, etc.?

The two meanings aren't the same, so why is the same word used? My question come from reading Frederick Forsythe's "The Cobra" which makes it all the more irritating as Forsythe is English and uses the American meaning. Granted, he's writing about America, but even so......

The difference being "for a short time" versus "in a short time". The Oxford English Dictionary does call the latter usage 'Chiefly North American' but in the examples puts

1961 E. Waugh Let. 9 June (1982) 567 The Last or General Judgement is something quite different... The Christians of the first century seem to have expected it momentarily.

[boltonboris]

Same with the word "Utilise" instead of "use"