Flashing etc

I was walking home today and thought I saw a man ‘playing with himself’ in a car I was passing.  Turns out he wasn’t, but it got me thinking about the times I have been flashed at or had similar horrible experiences.  I can remember at least 5 examples …

1. Sitting on a train in Italy waiting for it to go (circa 1992).  I looked out of my window to a train opposite that was also in the station.  The curtains in the compartment were closed and a man’s willy was being poked through the closed curtains by a hand.  Presumably he was also peeking through the curtains to gauge my reaction, although I didn’t see his face.

2. Playing tennis in a park in North London (couple of years ago).  Man sitting on a bench next to the court, watching me and my friend whilst wanking.  My friend reported him when she was back at work the next day.  Ha!

3. In a swimming pool changing room in Grenoble (circa 1996).  This wasn’t actually flashing but was a horrible experience.  I had just got undressed after swimming when I looked down and saw a hand coming under the wall of my cubicle – holding a mirror and adjusting it to get a better view!  Actually, I’m presuming it was a man as it was a mixed changing room, but may not have been.

4. Flashed at in Morocco last year.

5. On a train carriage by myself , 2007, (this one was quite scary actually).  Man got on a train, whistled at me, I looked up and he had his penis out and was doing the deed.  Horrible man.  He had a Dalmatian dog and a bike with him, so was probably easily identifiable on CCTV.  I didn’t end up reporting it, though.

That seems quite a lot to me.  (Although, what do I know – maybe it’s the norm??).  Have other people (women) had as many similar experiences as me or have I just been unlucky?

Naked cyclists

I met up with Maths Chick for a coffee in town this afternoon.  I took the tube to Oxford Circus, and what sight greeted me as I exited the station?  Hundreds of naked people cycling along Regent Street!

It was hilarious and so unexpected!  It turns out that it was part of the Naked London Bike Ride.  According to their website, they were cycling naked to protest about oil and car dependency, and to celebrate the “power and individuality of the human body”.  And I can assure you that there were definitely saw some interesting and individual examples of the human body on display this afternoon!

Here are some photos that I took … 

Here’s a video, too (crap quality, sorry!) … My favourite is the person on the skateboard (?!). 

Ever heard of copyright, mister?

These people have stolen my words and put them on their website. 

http://caribbean.dailynewsabout.com/archives/134

Is this some sort of automatically generated blog?  Anyone know?

Stuff

Feeling a bit ill at the moment (hope it’s not swine flu ) but enjoying slobbing on the sofa with my hot water bottle. 

I’m really looking forward to Question Time this evening.  Not sure who’s on it, but there’s sure to be a lot of focus on MPs’ expenses, ha ha.  I hope the audience give the unlucky politicians who are booked for this evening a grilling!  Thieving so and so’s.

In other news, I’m going through a bit of a reality-TV-stars’-books-thing at the moment!  A couple of weeks ago, I read Katie Price’s book, then moved onto Jade Goody’s autobiography.  Now I’m reading Nikki Grahame’s “Dying to be Thin”.  Yes, I know it all sounds sad, people keep telling me so, but, hey, I’m enjoying them. 

Katie Price’s book was a real page turner … complete trashy nonsense, obviously, but I was gripped. 

Jade Goody’s biography was fantastic, and I really gained new respect for the woman after the reading the book.  She had a such a terrible time as a child, yet managed to escape the poverty and misery, and become successful at what she did.  (And I don’t think she was a racist … just gaffe-prone, and damaged).  It was really well-written, too (by ghost writer, Lucie Cave).  Nice review here.

Nikki Grahame seems to have written the book herself.  It’s all about her struggle with anorexia, and, bloody hell, what a struggle it has been for her.  She’s only eight in the bit I’ve got up to, and she’s already spent 6 months in a psychiatric hospital because she was so badly affected.  I’m really enjoying reading the book as I’m quite interested in eating disorders (have never suffered myself though, thank god).

As I type this, Gossip are on TV singing “Standing in the Way of Control”.  I love their music and this song in particular.  Enjoy this clip!

Protected: My favourite is pineapples, bananas and coconuts

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Shame on the lot of you

Just been reading all this stuff about MPs and their expenses, and it’s making my blood boil!

It may well be within the rules, but some of them have really been taking the piss, haven’t they?  A few randomly selected examples I’ve just been reading about:

Kevin Brennan bought a widescreen TV which was delivered to his home in Wales, and then claimed back under his second home allowance.  He says it was for his home in London - yeah, right.

John Reid claimed for a pouffe(!), ice cube trays (cost £3), and a glittery toilet seat (vital for his role as an MP, that one) - again all for his non-London home.

Kitty Ussher claimed for a full make-over of her house within 12 months of becoming an MP – estimated cost  to the tax payer £20,000.

Baroness Thornton claims £22,000 a year in expenses by saying that her mother’s house in Yorkshire is her main residence … when she actually has a £1 million house in Hampstead Heath!

Sinn Fein MPs have been claiming money for properties in London when they don’t even attend parliament!

And on, and on….

I realise that the examples I have given relate mainly to Labour MPs, but we can be sure that the Tories are fleecing us too, can’t we?  And this whole ’switching around which is your second home to maximise what you can claim back and possibly to reduce the amount of capital gains tax paid’ malarky is appalling!

I am feeling particularly narked by the whole thing because of a recent experience of my own with expense claims.  I didn’t submit a claim for travel expenses for about a year when I started in my current SLT job.  (We can claim back bus fares and the like, incurred when travelling to meetings which are part of our work).  The reason I was slow to submit my claim was that I was generally too busy working!  I always had an urgent report to do that took precedence.  When I eventually did submit my claim (for about £80), I was told that I was too late!  I would not be able to claim the money back as a new rule had been introduced saying that you can only claim back expenses arising in the past three months!!!  I was so pissed off!  (And my claim was for expenses I had genuinely incurred in the course of my work – not for a fancy loo seat!)

But back to the MPs … the whole system really needs sorting out, doesn’t it?  It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, comes out of this untarnished.  And I really hope that Tory MPs’ expenses are exposed in the same way as Labour MPs’ have been … although given that it is The Telegraph that seems to be doing most of the exposing at the moment, I doubt whether that will actually happen.

Caribbean Scene

If you’re ever in Stratford and feeling peckish, make sure you steer clear of Caribbean Scene. 

K., Sh. and I went there on Tuesday evening before going to see “East End Tales” at the Picture House (part of the East End Film Festival).

I had read a review of the restaurant on-line earlier in the day(1/5 stars), but we foolishly decided to give it a go anyway. 

First impressions were good (or should I say deceiving?): the restaurant was spacious and attractively decorated – mock beach huts, a large fish tank, and reggae music playing in the background. 

Unfortunately, the food turned out to be over-priced rubbish, and the customer service was pretty shoddy.

I initially ordered a spicy beef burger with plantain, but was then told they had run out of both, so I opted for jerk chicken instead.  Sh. plumped for a veggie burger, whilst K., who had already eaten, went for an “Emerald City” cocktail.

I’ve eaten jerk chicken several times before, and each time it’s been delicious.  Caribbean Scene’s take on the dish, however, was nothing short of revolting:  a large plate of bitter, vomit-inducing sauce, with a single piece of stringy, over-cooked chicken plonked in the middle.  No sign of any marinating here.   The chicken didn’t come with anything, so I’d ordered a bowl of rice and peas to go with it.  The rice was dry and tasteless; the beans (peas) were mushy and few and far between.  I wish I’d taken a photo, so you could share in the horror. 

Sh.’s meal was equally disappointing:

A tiny, bland burger, with a sad-looking piece of lettuce shoved into the bun, and nothing else.  No side salad or attempt to improve presentation.  Cost = £6.50.   Sh. had also ordered a particular type of fruit juice, only to be told that it was unavailable.

K.’s  cocktail should have been the restaurant’s saving grace (how can you get a cocktail wrong?), but unfortunately, it wasn’t.  Her blue Curaçao/ vodka/ melon liquor/ lime juice drink, served with an ungainly slice of lemon, was average-tasting and overpriced – it actually cost the same as Sh.’s meal!

When we came to pay, we told the waiter how disappointed we were.  He first questioned whether we had ever eaten Caribbean food before (implying that we didn’t know what to expect and that was why we were disappointed!), but then admitted that lots of people had been complaining.  He asked whether we’d like to speak to the manger, and we said we would.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to tell the manager our views as he was “too busy” to speak to us.

We paid (no tip, natch) and left, and won’t be going back again.

I actually think that 1/5 stars is rather generous!

That’s the way I like it, baby

Motörhead always remind me of a favourite teacher of mine, Mr Paul D., who was (is?) a fan.

I was thinking about him yesterday, and did a search on You Tube for that classic Motörhead track “Ace of Spades”.

This is what I came across.  Absolutely hilarious!

Last day, yummy food and a clear out

I had a brilliant day at work today.  It was my current group of students’ last day of class.  We played lots of games:  pass the parcel(!), Brainstorm and a home made board game.  At lunchtime we had a meal paid for by the college to bid the students farewell.  There was lots of gorgeous Bengali food – lamb and chicken curry, rice, lovely breads and fruit – YUM!  The students were all so lovely and saying they would miss me, and I almost wanted to cry over the fact they won’t be coming back after Easter! 

After lunch we, (me and fellow teachers) spent the afternoon having a clear out, as Ofsted are coming after the holidays (gulp).  My classroom now has lots of new posters, and all the crap that had been accumulating for years (literally) has been removed (old handouts, ex-students’ work, a broken OHP, a massive display board etc etc).

It was so lovely to do some real physical work for once.  It was also good to work with my colleagues, as I am too often by myself at the clinic when I am SLT-ing or when I am teaching (other than the students, of course!)

I did feel a bit bad about the amount of stuff that the college threw away (including tons of old computer stuff).  I would have preferred it all to be recycled/ given away, but short of hiring a van and driving it all to some kind recycling facility myself, there was not much I could do about it.

I did manage to rescue a sack – a whole sack! – of clothes that students have left behind over the years, and I am going to take it to a charity shop or freecycle it.  At least that won’t end up in landfill.  Shame all the clothes were really unfashionable and extra large, or I could perhaps have solved my current clothing crisis

Shopping Hell

I seriously need some new clothes as I have nothing to wear!

OK, that’s a slight exaggeration … I’m not writing this naked … but it’s not much of one.

Here’s the proof:  my mum told me on the phone the other day that she had had a clear out and thrown away three big sacks of clothes that she no longer wears: I don’t even have enough clothes to fill one SMALL sack!  I’m constantly having to wash my clothes as I have so few of them!

So why haven’t I just gone out and bought some new ones?  Because I HATE SHOPPING FOR CLOTHES!

However, since the situation has really become desperate, I took the day off work today and headed down to Oxford Street.

I managed to last about an hour before I started to go completely nuts.  As usual, everything I tried was too big, too small, or just looked crap (this is why I hate shopping!).  And there were so many people.  On a Friday!  I only managed to buy one top

Ho-hum.

The shopping trip wasn’t a total disaster, however.

I managed to buy a(nother) teach yourself Turkish CD (Berlitz : Turkish in 60 minutes), and also a rather interestingly titled book by Steven Pinker, “The seven words you can’t say on television”.  Looking forward to finding out what they are!