Just a reminder that this Sunday is St. George's Day.
Apr. 19th, 2006
amusingly true
Apr. 19th, 2006 03:39 pmAmericans don't travel well. We are one of our least successful exports, to the extent that the US State Department, in conjunction with US businesses, has issued a 16-point pamphlet telling its citizens how to avoid behaving idiotically while abroad. It advises them not to brag and not to lecture. It says it is inappropriate to tell people about the Bible "unless you are a professional missionary identified as such."
This is a good idea. There are undoubtedly some Americans who will look at the tips and decide against travelling at all - if they can't bore on about the Superbowl or walk around Paris recommending the Bible to people, what's the point? But it doesn't go far enough for American visitors to Britain. If you want to avoid being openly hated, by all means take the State Department's advice, but if you wish to escape being secretly loathed, you need to take the following extra precautions.
For more, read this piece from the Grauniad
well, f*ck
Apr. 19th, 2006 11:15 pmPeter, you know that dry-mounted poster of Japanese sword parts that I have sitting in my kitchen that I keep trying to persuade you to take home? I won't be asking you again. Because after reheating a serving of chicken florentine, I walked out of the kitchen with that on a plate, and the container slid one way and the contents slid the opposite direction, and the poster got trashed. So I hope you didn't really want it but felt you shouldn't accept it. Because it's gone now.