PinkyB

Cheers Brum, although my name is nothing to do with the colour pink, which I can take or leave frankly. It's borrowed from the main character in my favourite novel*. Unfortunately some people have since suggested it sounds a bit filthy, but it's too late to change it now, I've been using it for nearly ten years. And it's not my fault if some people have dirty minds, is it? * special prize for anyone who knows what this is without having to Google it edited for spurious reasons

That hard stare cats give you when you address them by their 'name'. "Are you talking to me, human scum?" David Mitchell on Have I Got News For You. Proper chip shop fish 'n' chips. My peculiar ability to dream elaborately detailed fictional characters. Programmes about badgers. The sounds of small children running up and down corridors on wooden floorboards. Where do they get their energy? Masterchef. Socks with sandals. Red-haired men. (with the obvious exception of Mick Hucknall) Dappled sunlight through the apple tree. Drinking milkshake through a stripey straw. Small boys giggling behind their hands. A very hot shower after a long, tiring day. Giant fluffy towels. Postcards from foreign places. The first day you venture out in sandals instead of shoes, squinting in the sunshine and loaded up with plasters just in case. The word hippopotamus.

As far as I'm aware Mikecg was a long-term member of this forum not a newcomer, is that not right? I AM a newcomer, and all this crap is immensely offputting to me. If I wanted to listen to people I don't know screaming at each other, I'd log off and watch Eastenders. This is my last comment on the subject, because I really don't want to get dragged into what are clearly pre-existing battles, but if this carries on I won't make a fuss, I shall just leave, and I'm sure I won't be the only one. I don't expect anyone to care, and I'm not certainly expecting anyone to say "Oh, no, please don't leave!", I just think it's a shame, that's all. I've enjoyed discovering the Forum this last couple of months, but this has me losing the will to live. Right, I'm off to post on the "What's Your favourite colour?" thread.

Now THIS is the sort of nonsense that puts off newcomers to this forum, not swearing or childish humour.

One!

A friend of mine once successfully used the excuse that he had to go the funeral of his cousin who, while on holiday in Norway, had been run over by a carnival float. This is the same bloke who once got an essay deadline extension by telling his tutor he was taking his pregnant girlfriend to the abortion clinic. Would you believe, the tutor actually told him he admired his responsible stance on the matter, and to take as long as he needed. Wish I'd thought of that. Edited to say that there was no girlfriend, pregnant or otherwise, and my friend now lives with his long-term boyfriend, so has little to no chance of ever using this excuse again.

The fact that in thirteen minutes I can leave the office and not come back for 60-something hours! Twelve! Eleven! (Lordy I'm a slow typer)

Once rang up our local MP in the middle of the night, pissed on cheap wine at a teenage house party, to generally harangue him with drunken silliness. We didn't seriously expect him to answer, so we hadn't prepared anything. Although to be fair, he was in the phone book, so what did he expect? Not so much revolutionary as just drunken, but I've been on more than my fare share of demos over the years, so I reckon I'm allowed one moment of idiocy. And I was sixteen. Oh, and I nearly forgot, a friend and I wrote an article for the local paper about what teenagers thought of the poll tax (so 1989), and interviewed lots of kids from our school, but the headmaster refused to let it be published, the git. That was my fledgeling journalistic career up the swanee.

Yes, and yes. The right to vote is a hard-won right, and shouldn't be wasted. Besides, if you don't vote, some UKIP/BNP gonk will.

Yes, and yes. The right to vote is a hard-won right, and shouldn't be wasted. Besides, if you don't vote, some UKIP/BNP gonk will.

I did a big web search and came up with this place in Hackney called East London Printmakers. They have a lot of different courses/ workshops, but this was a one-day introduction course, which was what I wanted. http://www.eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk/workshops.htm Maybe I'll see you there!

I did a big web search and came up with this place in Hackney called East London Printmakers. They have a lot of different courses/ workshops, but this was a one-day introduction course, which was what I wanted. http://www.eastlondonprintmakers.co.uk/workshops.htm Maybe I'll see you there!

Fivers, tens or twenties? Or just coppers?

Fivers, tens or twenties? Or just coppers?

The exact blue-green-mixed-with-rust colour they use to paint the railings on Brighton seafront. The very bright green grass goes when the sun comes out after it's been raining. The late evening light shining through an amber pint of Strongbow in a pub beer garden.

The exact blue-green-mixed-with-rust colour they use to paint the railings on Brighton seafront. The very bright green grass goes when the sun comes out after it's been raining. The late evening light shining through an amber pint of Strongbow in a pub beer garden.

If they've got a lot of exhibition catalogues, you wouldn't have a look to see if they've got one for the National Gallery exhibtition "Russian Landscape" from about 2 years ago, would you? I went on the last day, was utterly bowled over by it, and have been searching for one ever since. (they'd run out) Recently I've been trying to be more creative myself. I've signed up for a lino-printing workshop in August, it's a really interesting style. I'll probably be rubbish at it, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. Lots of artists have used lino cut, Picasso most notably. I still remember being at school and the art teacher showing us work by an early 20th century German artist called Kathe Kollwitz; incredible, stark, powerful stuff. She's pretty much unknown these days, I think, but I highly recommend looking her up.

If they've got a lot of exhibition catalogues, you wouldn't have a look to see if they've got one for the National Gallery exhibtition "Russian Landscape" from about 2 years ago, would you? I went on the last day, was utterly bowled over by it, and have been searching for one ever since. (they'd run out) Recently I've been trying to be more creative myself. I've signed up for a lino-printing workshop in August, it's a really interesting style. I'll probably be rubbish at it, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. Lots of artists have used lino cut, Picasso most notably. I still remember being at school and the art teacher showing us work by an early 20th century German artist called Kathe Kollwitz; incredible, stark, powerful stuff. She's pretty much unknown these days, I think, but I highly recommend looking her up.

Don't You Want Me baby - Human league

Don't You Want Me baby - Human league

When I was at sixth form college we used to bunk off the afternoon lessons all the time, they were sort of compulsory but didn't actually count towards your exams, and besides the lure of Burger King or going on the Waltzer was always greater. We got away with it for weeks until the day we went into town for lunch and then made our way back for the afternoon session only to find that the roads had all been closed off because of a bomb scare and we couldn't get through. Needless to say, after months of blatant skiving, they didn't believe us one little bit. I believe the expression is "hoist by your own petard". Didn't make us feel any better about the subsequent detention though.

When I was at sixth form college we used to bunk off the afternoon lessons all the time, they were sort of compulsory but didn't actually count towards your exams, and besides the lure of Burger King or going on the Waltzer was always greater. We got away with it for weeks until the day we went into town for lunch and then made our way back for the afternoon session only to find that the roads had all been closed off because of a bomb scare and we couldn't get through. Needless to say, after months of blatant skiving, they didn't believe us one little bit. I believe the expression is "hoist by your own petard". Didn't make us feel any better about the subsequent detention though.

Unexpected arrival of DVD box set I forgot I ordered in the post, hurrah! Predicted four whole days in a row of sunshine. Infectious joy of friend who is going on holiday on Monday. Tiny hope still aflame that someday soon I might actually find somewhere permanent to live after only six freaking months of looking. Silly list threads that make me laugh, because God knows we all need a bit more laughter in our miserable, humdrum, lives. Work colleague has announced his wife is expecting a baby. Yesterday was payday. Today, the world is good.

Unexpected arrival of DVD box set I forgot I ordered in the post, hurrah! Predicted four whole days in a row of sunshine. Infectious joy of friend who is going on holiday on Monday. Tiny hope still aflame that someday soon I might actually find somewhere permanent to live after only six freaking months of looking. Silly list threads that make me laugh, because God knows we all need a bit more laughter in our miserable, humdrum, lives. Work colleague has announced his wife is expecting a baby. Yesterday was payday. Today, the world is good.

Who is Dulwich Mum and why should I care what she thinks?