Happy birthday Janine

Pope and Blair to combine state visits- via NewsBiscuit

Rather good spoof for a Sunday morning, from NewsBiscuit :

Britain is preparing to host a joint state visit in September from two religious men convinced of their own infallibility and who refuse to make a public apology for their actions, his holiness Tony Blair and Pope Benedict XVI.

‘Look, it just makes sense to combine the two visits,’ said Mr Blair, ‘we are both Catholics, we both have books to promote and we both need protecting from an angry public.’

‘The Holy Father is delighted to be sharing his visit to the UK with Mr Blair,’ said a Vatican representative, ‘It will make a pleasant change for him to travel with someone who manages to be even more unpopular than him.’

The state visit, already dubbed ‘The Guilt and Redemption Tour’, will see the holy duo travel the nation in a specially adapted Popemobile, waving at the crowds from behind the safety of bulletproof glass.

Mr Blair and Pope Benedict will appear at venues around the country preaching to their followers and promoting their books, A Journey and A Bible. Both works have been heavily panned by the critics who describe them as ‘a shameless rewriting of history,’ ‘self-serving twaddle’ and ‘little more than a made-up fairy tale’.

...

‘The combined visit will save the taxpayer millions in terms of police protection,’ said Home Secretary Theresa May, ‘it should also confuse protestors who won’t know who to hurl abuse at first.’

However some activists are looking forward to the visit. ‘This is a great opportunity,’ said professional protestor Peter Tatchell, ‘with a bit of luck I might get to make two citizen’s arrests in one day.’

The Pope-Blair visit will culminate in an open air mass in which each man will pray for the forgiveness of the other. ‘This is the nearest that people will ever get to see either man make a public apology,’ said tour press secretary Alastair Campbell, adding ‘we might do God but we don’t do sorry.’

Pete Wylie "The Day That Margaret Thatcher Dies! "

Hat tip Harry P and Lawrie C on Facebook.

Jane Austen's Fight Club

While I'm pondering posts to write, here is a you tube . I'm not one for costume dramas , Mr Darcy does nothing for me, feisty women though are another matter ...




"We were no longer good society ."

Stropps goes wild in the country ...

Won't be posting much, if at all, this week.

On a sort Famous Five go wild in Wales with lashings of pop . Except its more a queer version and there is nine of us.

Basically chilling and doing my best to steer clear of the Internet.

Am posting this in glorious sunshine , next to a stream , eating yummy Biscuits homemade by our Southern Belle Gregg,and fresh coffee.

We even have a sauna and Gerard has brought his 'pouf box' full of lotions and potions .

But standards are maintained , red lippy and a big seventies sunhat and shades at all times :-)

Yep, a little bit of Camptown in the middle of Wales, only queers for miles :-)

Will read a book, have a walk, glass of wine and ignore the bickering's of the left for a week . Unlike the boys though, will keep my clothes on ! I think sunburn on certain sensitive parts of the body would not be good!

Hopefully fellow bloggers will post, if not chat amongst yourselves ...

Pic , Famous Five as pics of naked gay men on river banks bit much even for this blog !

Theme tune for this blog

Phil has tagged me for this meme, basically if this blog had a theme tune what would it be.

Well I'm off to ponder , but welcome your views as well of course those of my fellow Stroppybloggers .

David Camerwrong presents a new Vision for Britain

Hat tip Sukhwant on Facebook.

The Daily Mail song

Doing the rounds on Facebook...enjoy .

Happy Festivus

A little Xmas ditty

Not exactly Cliff Richard ;-)

Hat tip Neil on Facebook.

Speechbreaker

Via Kit on Facebook, if you're a bit bored here is something to amuse .

Stroppy is ...Brighton, Cats, Mood swings, JD and Scrabble... apparently !

Jim has given me five words that remind him of me. The point of this meme is to take them and “waffle” about what they mean to you.

Seems a bit like Just a Minute, except repetition and deviation is allowed !

So what words did my mate Jim come up with? Well, they are Brighton, Cats, Moods swings, JD and Scrabble! What, no fishnets or DMs ?

Hmm. That conjured up an image of a mad moody cat woman swigging on a bottle of Jack Daniels, with her signed Dolls4Jim pic on the wall, as she played scrabble on Facebook. Not far off;-)

OK, lets waffle...

Brighton

I spent most of my adult life in London, but have lived in Brighton now for over ten years.
What do I like about it? Well I like that its very LGBT friendly, especially my part of town. How often do you walk up to the train station at 7 in the morning and pass a gaggle of drag queens in full slap coming home from a night out , heels in hand?
Its the first place where I felt comfortable and at home.
I like living in a part of town that is populated with bars and sex shops , small independent cafes and generally an air of anything goes.
I like that there is lots of good live music and I can walk to see it in small venues .
I love being near the sea, preferably in winter when the waves are crashing .

What I don't like? Well woolly thinking muesli munching , crystal clutching , reiki types who name their kid Chakra . Yep too many new agey people who are extremely gullible and easily impressed. Who needs religion when you have a new generation of the superstitious.
Much as I love the eccentricity, the woolly headed healing Henri's who wear baggy tie dyed trousers and live off alfalfa I could do without. Mind, I don't think they would like my 'negative aura ' either. Luckily I live in a part of town that they don't tend to inhabit.
I also don't like it when its really crowded with drunken daytrippers or hen parties screeching at 4 in the morning on their way back to their B&B.
Oh and I don't like arrogant cyclists that ride on the pavement or the wrong way up a street and then swear at me for being in their way.

But generally I love Brighton, although I also spend half my time in Hackney, and really couldn't stand somewhere too normal.

Cats

People tend to be cat or dog people. I started out as the latter, as a child we had rescue dogs, including a greyhound. They are lovely dogs and like racehorses, unless they are winners they do not have a happy retirement .

I ended up with cats as my ex liked them and we rescued some feral kittens when we were students. Those cats followed us into a number of squats and later more salubrious surroundings . They lived until 15 and 17 .

I now have two rescue cats, Bob and Beryl, who have made a number of appearances here, including live cat blogging during the US Presidential elections.

I am well aware of the stereotype of child free women with cats (not childless, its a positive choice !), but as I say I got into them via a man and was a dog person. I don't treat them like babies or sit there spoon feeding them while talking to imaginary people and they are most certainly not a substitute. I think I'm better with animals sometimes than people, I don't seem to be able to offend them and they are trusting and affectionate . Its people who fuck up the world, not cats.

Mood swings

Pah, now why did Mr Jepps pick that ?? Well yeah I can be arsey and stroppy, hence my blog name. As an ex Mental Health social worker I am well aware of the diagnosis of bi - polar, but I'm more common or garden drama queen, but not all the time, honest.

Not so sure about mood swings as such, but changeable and can veer from upbeat to down . I suppose I care , about this world generally and people I love. That can make me happy, sad and angry at times. It also means I perhaps can't be as cold and theoretical as some on the left. Yeah, I may not be as up on Marx as others, but my politics came from a childhood where we were often poor, being homeless and seeing my family fucked over by the system.

JD

Ah, which one ? As regular readers know I was part of the campaign to get Jim Denham elected leader of the Labour Party and a founder member of Dolls4Jim. Jim has a special place on this blog and many disappointed people google mud wrestling and thongs, only to find a post about him.

Jack Daniels, the other JD,well its probably my favourite tipple and one that I came to quite late, having worked my way through many spirits. I think I like the association with Keith Richards , but I started drinking it when in New York. I was there with an ex and got drinking it in bars.He went home and I stayed on a few days more and got trapped there 9/11. I spent much of that day in various bars drinking it watching the news and talking to people.

Scrabble

Well, its really facebook wordscraper. I haven't actually played scrabble proper for many years. I must admit its quite addictive . I have three regular people I play with, that's Jim J, George Binette and Charlie Pottins,  I do also play people I find from the 'join table' board, though some have other types of games in mind !

Well that's my waffle . If anyone else wants to do this add your name in the comment box and I'll come up with five words, though it makes sense if I know you a little, even virtually .

Pants and the recession

Just a quick post, any thought on this dear readers:

Last month, Y-fronts outsold boxer shorts for the first time since the early 1990s - the last time when Britain was in recession.

Debenhams said it is the standard, thick, warm, white, slightly frumpy styles which are selling like hot cakes rather than the skimpy, tight, high fashion versions of previous years.

The store's spokesman Ed Watson said: "These are the sort of pants our fathers wore.

"They provide a much greater sense of security than loose-fitting boxers, and perhaps, in these troubled times, that's what men need to feel."

Y-fronts were launched in the US 74 years ago. In recent years, loose fitting boxer shorts and slim line trunks have been, by far, the biggest sellers in Debenhams' menswear range.

The fashion chain's sales figures show that the sudden surge in Y-fronts began in November, just as the recession was starting to bite.

In total, sales have leapt by 35% over the six-month period, the company said.

Well doesn't look like the world has ended after all...

Yep , still here after all the nonsense.

Inspired by a post on Shiraz, what would you do if the world was about to end? What music would you want playing, what would you eat , where would you be and who with, doing what?

I'll start.

Well if it had of been this week I'd wanted to be wrapped up in a duvet, wearing my best DMs and fishnets with Dave and my cats cuddled up. I'd be eating chocolate and very drunk on JD (well sod being healthy in my last few hours). I'd probably be playing loud punk or rock. It would include The Clash, Iggy Pop, Pixies, Velvet Underground and the Sex Pistols.

If it was at a time when I didn't have cats I'd be doing all the above but on a very remote beach somewhere looking out at crashing waves and a greying sky. Or perhaps I could get the cats to sit and watch with me?

Then of course I'd find out God did exist and my hell would be a eternity with some of the most annoying commentators and bloggers arguing for ever about David Broder/AWL/Iran ...

One of those damn meme things

Got tagged by Phil .

Here goes ...

1) What was the last 1980s song you heard?

Listened to Yazoo . Mix of songs.

2) What was the last thing you saw on You tube?

Looked up 'The Trucks' that I found via the F Word.
Not exactly Girls Aloud.

Lyrics such as :

what makes you think we can fuck just because you put your tongue in my mouth and you twisted my titties baby?

and

So why the fuck won’t you go down on me?

and

no i won’t sit nice and be quiet
no i won’t sit nice and be quiet
no i won’t sit nice and be quiet
no i won’t sit nice and be quiet

Review here, describing them as :

...sounds like the musical lovechild of riot grrrls Sleater-Kinney and gay glam-rockers Scissor Sisters. The foursome’s first outing makes the personal political by letting off steam about subjects as varied as emotionally distant lovers, the politics of neighborhood bullies, sexual assault and concepts of beauty.

Though serious subjects its not all worthy and dull. Check out their myspace page .

3) What was the last entry on Wikipedia you viewed?

The Yazoo one to link to in the earlier answer.

4) What was the last computer/video game you completed all the way through?

Haven't played computer games for years when I used to have a Gameboy.
Does face book scrabble count ?

I have though been given a Poker computer game as a birthday present from Dave. So I'll be playing that soon.

5) What did you last pig out on?

Hmmm, food or drink ?

I'm trying to be healthy at the moment with food, but did go for a meal last week with a friend for a birthday treat and had a really nice pudding. Chocolatey!

With drink, well my birthday and the next day. Rather a lot of red wine.

6) What is the last undeleted text message on your mobile phone?

'Cool', from Jim Jay.

7) When did you last have a conversation with someone other than a family member?

None of my conversations are with family as I don't have any. Bumped into the woman who colours my hair and chatted about the pale pinks bits I put in it myself.

8) Aside from where you live, what is the last village/town/city you visited?

London, but not sure that counts as I spend half my time there .

9) What was the last competition you won?

Can't remember .

10) What are the last three blogs you visited?

Shiraz, Susan Press and Dave's .

Right, I'm supposed to tag some more people. Phil tags six, but I'll just do five.
Will , Hakmao, Darren ( as Phil forgot to ), Volty and Tami.