Mungo munching, Number crunching, Voter punching.
Tran Qui is so British he could pass the ‘Britishness’ test untutored in some respects. Not that he speaks English, nor even lives here, but he has that essential ‘British’ quality – or arrogance – of assuming that whatever he does culturally, or has always done culturally, within his national borders, should be permitted regardless of local by-laws, wherever he choses to roam.
We are outraged at the suggestion that trotting along a Thai beach at midnight in a bikini might not be a good idea – we can do that in Brighton; as for playing tonsil hockey and heavy petting in a Dubai restaurant – well the locals should wise up to the ways of the world, not prosecute ‘us’.
Yet we display histrionics when homesick Poles roast a Swan for their Christmas lunch; and as for poor baffled Tran Qui – his attempts to recreate the ever popular (in Vietnam!) late night beer accompaniment of ‘Little Tiger’ with authentic ingredients; home grown lemon grass, a pinch of chilli and a passing moggie, brought on an attack of the vapours across Europe.
A police spokesman said: ‘He grilled the animal using a Bunsen burner in the courtyard of his block of flats. It is not uncommon in Asian cultures to eat cat meat. But it is not acceptable in Germany.’
Not that there is actually a law against eating cats in Germany, just one prohibiting the munching of pets… if they’ve been given a name, Mungo in this case, they are Verbotten.
One of my ancestors was called Mungo – Mungo Park to be specific, the first ‘white man’ to go to parts of central Africa; he was widely believed to have been eaten by the locals too.
Just as well Donna wasn’t called Mungo, eh?A generation of Scouses would have been deprived of their late night snack….
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A scant couple of weeks after we were married, Mr G left me a note on the kitchen table which quite clearly read ‘Gone to see lazy slut to get some fun’.
I took it as a summation of married life so far…He merely meant that he was conveying himself in a westerly direction towards a local firm called Lacy Scot’s to collect some furniture.
I am now so used to his dyslexia that I would actually read that message correctly these days. It is a form of dyslexia that is easily curable in childhood, but was unrecognised years ago. He loves to read, consumes more books than I do, but he has to settle down to read in long sessions – initially the letters bounce up and down for him, and the ‘bouncing’ doesn’t lend itself to penning a quick note.
As with so many disabilities in life, he has compensated with an incredible spatial awareness, coupled with an ability to think in 3D that continues to amaze me. He can look over a house full of furniture and calculate to the nearest inch the precise square footage required to pack it all away. He can walk into a derelict house and within minutes tell you precisely which wall can be moved to where to allow a staircase to pass under which beam – without the aid of tape measure or complicated mathematics.
He once assured a customer of mine that the Georgian ‘chest-on-chest’ that they had fallen in love with would fit into their Volkswagen car, packed correctly – he was absolutely right, though whether they ever got it out again I never did hear.
I give him measurements in inches from some customer’s house, and he will stare dolefully at my tape measure and tell me I’m wrong – go back and do it again; he ‘knows’ precisely what the space that the customer wanted filled ‘looks’ like, and it doesn’t look like the 18 inches marked on the tape measure – he’s irritatingly right every time…
Now GCHQ have discovered that many dyslexics have this special ability – and have hired 120 ‘neuro-diverse’ individuals to form a special team, utilising their specific ability to analyse complex information in a “dispassionate, logical and analytical” way. Apparently they have woken up to the fact that Alan Turing was dyslexic and this formed the basis of his valuable ability to see patterns in code. The head of their new department, IT expert ‘Matt’ said:
“My reading might be slower than some individuals and maybe my spelling is appalling, and my handwriting definitely is… but if you look at the positive side, my 3D spacial-perception awareness and creativity is in the top 1% of my peer group.”
Fascinating – but they are too late to hire Mr G – he’s halfway to England as I write, with a trailer full of household goods that nobody would have put money on him fitting on there – except me. I can guarantee you that every piece of furniture will fit in that house exactly where he said it would.
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Gordon Brown has apparently set the time table for ‘devo-max’ for Scotland – by what authority is anyone’s guess.
He will be making a rare appearance in Westminster on “October 16, introducing a white paper in November, draft clauses for the new act by the end of January and a second reading of the bill to bring it into law in the first legislative week of the next parliament in June”. Did he not notice the Voters kicking him out of 10 Downing street?
The English Voters have been mugged.
The Scots retain their free prescriptions, free university education and free social care that the prosperous south East of England cannot afford for itself – too busy working to pay for the extra £17 bn in funding we send up there each year. They narrowly escaped coming under the heading of ‘International Aid’ – by a mere 190,000 votes. Just think – they could have competed for a share of the 0.7 per cent of GDP that Cameron wants to share out between Liberia and Tunisia and all points in between.
New vacine supplies for Ebola victims or ring fenced pensions for the third of Scots employed in ‘public services’ – that would have been a tough one for the International Aid Department.
Instead we are being compensated by the sight of the Labour party saying ‘please ignore Gordon’ and explaining why they don’t want Scotland to get devo-max for years to come, and still trying to get their MPs elected up there in the frozen north; the Lib-dems trying to get anyone elected – anywhere – at all; and the Conservatives becoming more ‘UKIP-friendly’ than UKIP are themselves…..
Personally, I think Cameron has played a blinder – he’s managed to shoot himself and all the main political players in the foot simultaneously.
As a blogger continually searching for the illogical and abhorrent on the political landscape, I have to say:
Good shot Sir!
- Joe Public
September 21, 2014 at 11:51 am -
Superb analyses Anna.
Love your parting shot(s) at our political establishment.
“As a blogger continually searching for the illogical and abhorrent on the political landscape ….” you could do worse than acknowledge the hash-tag Labour has chosen for its forthcoming p1ss-up. Their marketing people may be oblivious, but UK car vanity-plate aficionados would salivate at the prospect of the driving around in a #LAB14.
- Oi you
September 21, 2014 at 12:07 pm -
I used to have a friend who was dyslexic. She was never a reader, finding novels too time-consuming, but made up for it, by having a unique sense of style and an almost telepathetic feel for colour. She was one of those irritating women who could put on an oily rag, dress it up with some tat and look a million dollars. Heads would turn every time. Grrrr……
- JimmyGiro
September 21, 2014 at 12:19 pm -
I think I knew her… was it Lucy Scot, that worked at the furniture store?
- DtP
September 21, 2014 at 1:32 pm -
Ah, Lucy – I remember she had a fine chest and would polish the old beams with gusto.
- DtP
- JimmyGiro
- The Slog
September 21, 2014 at 12:48 pm -
I used to think Mungo Park was just off the A35 until I discovered Smirnoff.
This Tran Qui bloke, does he live in Texas, and did he name his home ‘Lity’? Only then it would be Tranquility Base, Houston.
And finally, a tedious Nazi writes: “Zere is only von t in verboten, Untermensch”.
- giles2008
September 21, 2014 at 1:44 pm -
Saint Mungo. He of the homeless charity and patron saint of Glasgow.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Mungo
- Demetrius
September 21, 2014 at 2:11 pm -
Mungo was, if not common, an often used Christian name in Scotland. But you are a Scouser with Park ancestry? Oh dear, oh dear oh dear.
- Jonathan Mason
September 21, 2014 at 5:18 pm -
Interesting that Mungo Park had a Korean surname.
- Demetrius
September 21, 2014 at 8:07 pm -
The Scottish Parks had a number of seafarers from both the Clyde and Leith who certainly voyaged to the Far East. The Korean Park’s may well be Scottish as a result for the usual reasons. It may account for their golfing talents given the Park early winners of the Open Championship.
- Demetrius
- Jonathan Mason
- The Blocked Dwarf
September 21, 2014 at 4:20 pm -
” initially the letters bounce up and down for him, and the ‘bouncing’ doesn’t lend itself to penning a quick note.”
Youngest Useless Object once knifed a book to the table to ‘stop da feckin word fingsz movin’. Which probably tells you more about my parenting skills than it does juvenile dyslexia.
- Mr Wray
September 21, 2014 at 7:21 pm -
Do you happen to know why the letters bounce around when s/he looks at them? Also does anything else bounce around when observed? For example does s/he have difficulty looking at wallpaper patterns or pictures?
It seems a curious way for the brain to behave.
- Mr Wray
- Wigner’s Friend
September 21, 2014 at 4:59 pm -
Cynic nailed it as comment of the day on Guido:
“Can anyone help me? I went on holiday a week ago and returned to find someone has pulled out the stake and Gordon Brown is back and acting as Prime Minister. What did I miss? Has there been a snap election?”
- The Blocked Dwarf
September 21, 2014 at 5:15 pm -
The general feeling (wandering the Earth or rather the Blog-o-phere) is that the only politician to come out of all the recent squit well is Alex Salmon. Somewhat counter intuitively or Uncannily canny, his political modem set to ‘I warned you, they will no keep their promises’. If Devo-Super-Duper-Max doesn’t come in within a short space of time then they can start dusting off the Stone Of Scone for the coronation of King “I Am” Alexander 2.0, Ruler of The Hebrides and Emperor of Lothian….simples.
- Jonathan Mason
September 21, 2014 at 5:26 pm -
All of us have lost, the majority of Scots haven taken the cowardly path of welfare dependence on England rather than striking out bravely on their own as a new nation and making their own way in the world.
What are scare stories about the economy and the price of food compared to the opportunity to be a citizen of a new free nation and forge a new sense of nationality and new traditions. Had I been eligible to vote, I would have voted “aye”.
- Joe Public
September 21, 2014 at 6:25 pm -
And many Englanders south of the border would, too.
- The Blocked Dwarf
September 21, 2014 at 9:01 pm -
Seems my thoughts on Chairman Al were right: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scottish-independence/11111705/Alex-Salmond-says-No-voters-were-tricked.html
- Cloudberry
September 22, 2014 at 10:49 am -
Showing his true colours. He flatters himself if he thinks No voters didn’t suspect this. “Get registered, pal, and vote against this turkey. He’s dangerous.” (The Dead Zone)
- Cloudberry
- The Blocked Dwarf
- Joe Public
- Jonathan Mason
- The Blocked Dwarf
- The Jannie
September 21, 2014 at 5:07 pm -
My granddaughter is 15, autistic and dyslexic but effortlessly capable with maths. My son was called into school recently because she’d had a confrontation with her maths teacher. “It wasn’t my fault,” she said “he went on at me to explain how I got the right answer. I don’t know how, I just know that it’s right”.
- Jonathan Mason
September 21, 2014 at 5:27 pm -
Perhaps the teacher thought she was cheating.
- Jonathan Mason
- strawbrick
September 22, 2014 at 9:05 am -
As a special needs teacher,my wife taught many children who suffered from “bouncy letters”. In several cases the “cure” was yellow tinted non-optical glasses (test by putting a yellow transparency on the paper).
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