Fear is a powerful thing
In a 1985 Los Angeles Times poll, 51 per cent of respondents supported quarantining Aids patients. Those opposed argued there is this idea of building a wall against infection, but then added we know how Aids is transmitted, through very specific activities. No quarantines were made.
Hard to get closure with Sky
My wife passed away six years ago after a year long battle with cancer. Bless her, she had sorted most of the accounts into my name (she ran the household) but had overlooked Sky. After about a year when the Sky bill was still coming addressed to her I decided to change the account. I rang Sky and explained the circumstance and they offered their condolences, very sincerely I must add. The person then said I didn't have access to the account as per privacy rules. They then asked for a death certificate to verify, I replied you have to be joking, they replied you could be a former husband up to skulduggery (and to be fair I could have been). I replied as the account is in my wife's name I'll stop paying it and you can recover the money from her estate that has been wound up. Silence then ... could we have a letter from your solicitor verifying her death? Er, no, I replied. I then said her headstone is viewable online if I send you a link would that suffice? One moment caller I'll ask my supervisor. The supervisor comes online and asks for a death certificate. I politely say no. The supervisor asks for solicitor's letter, again a polite no. I suggest the online headstone pictures. They decide that will do. I sympathise with older people having to deal with these issues. I was only in my mid-40s and struggled with the procedure. I'm not sure what the answer is but it shouldn't be that hard."
Cambridge leavers' end-of-school gag.
Kiwi kids are embarrassing too
1. Several years ago I had a small hillock in my garden that I planted. One day when I was tending to my hillock the phone rang for me and my daughter, then aged 7, told the caller " Mummy can't come to the phone, she's weeding her mound". To my knowledge they didn't call back.
