11.11.11 Last Wednesday

A strange day, spent travelling to Scotland, and then back down, on to Liverpool.  Not many 'highlights' - in fact, none.  A few things to note, though.

Radio

I listened to the radio en route, and was appalled at the quality of the transmissions available.  On Real Radio I was told by a chap who was quite clearly from Newcastle that "I used to like that Mr Motivator, him", and wondered what the purpose of the last word was in that statement, and how on earth it complied with anything grammatical. 

Over on Smooth Radio I heard Simon Bates getting in a paddy about a report about how many women have supposedly sabotaged a fellow party-goer's dress, when that person has turned up in the same outfit.  He said it was one-in-five, but confirmed the percentage as 18%.  So, he has misled the audience, and shown mathematical ineptitude.  "One in five" (to help thick people understand) is of course 20%, but it would have been better to say "One in six", as that's 16.67%, and so closer to the actual figure of 18%. 

A news bulletin on another station had a report which included the line: "A group of children has devised their own way of doing things."  I was pleased that a group has, and was about to be impressed with the reporter when the singular group suddenly adopted powers of plurality, making for a deviation from an appropriate "its own way" to a flawed "their own way".  Inconsistent shit, as ever.

Radio 4 was no better, with the news including an item on Christmas spending.  "Brits spend more on Christmas than anywhere else in Europe."  What complete fucking twaddle.  This suggests that Christmas is somewhere in Europe! 

I saw a road sign that said, quite simply: Don't Speed
I didn't see a sign, later on in the day when I passed a bank, saying Don't Rob the Bank
Nor did I see any instruction that said Trim Your Nails
This last comment has relevance simply because I was astounded to see, when I parked my car in the Asda car park, a man in the vehicle next to mine, sitting holding a pair of scissors (not clippers, but full size scissors) trimming his nails whilst sat in the driver's seat.  Curious.

Inside Asda, there was a tannoy announcement that included the comment about a final conclusion, and I wondered what a conclusion was that came somewhere before the end . . . . . .

At night, I read the paper and saw in the Sun a piece under the heading of SunEmployment.  The headline was "I'm earning while class are learning".  Well, you twat - you're not learning much are you!  The classes are learning, or the class is learning. 

Then there was the annoying Melanie Sykes on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.  We'd all be better off without her stupid input.  Utter nausea.

That was Wednesday.

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