In answer to the multitude of email that has arrived (1): no, this isn’t me.
I find personalised number plates completely tacky. And I wouldn’t ever drive a Merc again after they dropped their sponsorship deal with 6000 miles… over that incident with the Latvian escort girl, the honey badger and the celery.
So no, this isn’t me, so there’s actually no point in throwing stones (or anything else) at this vehicle.
I’m off to Oslo in December and this is one of the tracks that I can’t wait to see live:
No-one does melancholy with as much clarity as Morten does melacholy.
But it’s not just the SA papers that write complete rubbish.
Step forward our old favourite the Daily Mail – describing the shark attack at Fishhoek.
Fiddling with his swimming goggles as he strolled across one of Cape Town’s most popular beaches, Lloyd Skinner did not notice anything amiss.
With temperatures in the 90s, the sand was packed with families enjoying the delights of the South African summer.
The sea appeared calm – perfect to escape the heat. But as he waded out, something terrible started to happen. A strange ripple effect circled him in the water. On the beach, people started waving their towels and shouting at him desperately.
Hmm. Let’s see what we’ve got so far shall we?
Temperatures in the 90s…
Sand packed with families…
The sea appeared calm…
Have you pictured the scene yet? And the strolling guy with the fiddly goggles?
Got it? Good.
And then let’s take a quick peek at this photo which eyewitness Gregg Coppen (who is quoted in the Daily Mail article) took 4 (four) minutes after witnessing the attack and tweeting his now infamous “Holy Shit” tweet.
Look at that beach, packed with families in the hot summer sun. And that wonderfully calm sea. Hmm.
I showed this to a colleague. He used the word “gobshite” to describe the writer, Andrew Malone.
And who am I to disagree?
There are probably numerous other inaccuracies in the rest of the article – I don’t know. With so much nonsense in the first five lines, I couldn’t be arsed to read any further.
Not much good news in the cricket for England this morning, but I note that The Times is up to its usual tricks again:
Apology to Kevin Pietersen
THE Times would like to make a full apology to Kevin Pietersen for printing an article headlined “KP’s beer-flinging fury” on 6 January 2010. Following representations on My Pietersen’s behalf made by the England team management and the ECB (Eng-land [sic] and Wales Cricket Board), The Times now accepts that the article was completely untrue and wholly without foundation.
KP was out again cheaply at the Wanderers this morning.
Let’s hope he doesn’t throw any beer over the crowd again like he didn’t do last time.
www.6000.co.za
Angry People in Local Newspapers
It’s not something that I have seen here in South Africa, but it’s commonplace in the UK to have the local rag come and investigate some local news issue and bring a photographer who will take a relevant picture for the story. And, more often than not, the protagonist will feature in said photograph – posing with relevant props and a relevant facial expression.
It’s the accepted norm.
And because it is both accepted and norm there really didn’t seem anything odd about it.
Until, that is, Scaryduck (if that is his real name) came forward and pointed out just how odd this practice is on his appropriately-titled website Angry People in Local Newspapers.
Add a witty comment or observation under each story and you’re away.
Scaryduck is the alter ego of Alistair Coleman (if that is his real name), author of Tales of Mirth and Woe, a book that I haven’t read.
However, if it’s anything like as amusing as his APILN site, it will be well worth a look.
And yes, I did submit this to his site.