A wee rant....

After a busy night sampling the delights of the A83 from Inveraray to Loch Awe four times yesterday (a double run to Karate Club, in total 80 miles) I switched on the TV looking for a bit of mindless enjoyment at the expense of all the folks trapped in the snowy conditions in the rest of Britain (not here though, not so much as a flake has drifted to the ground). Obviously the presence of 10cm of snow represented the end of transportation as we know it, although to be fair there was not as much chaos as usual. We did get fair warning from the Met, advice that some, notably the powers that be in charge of school closures, chose to disregard until they actually saw the snow clogging up the roads at 6.30am. I don’t know why, it is not as if there were storms or mini hurricanes coming or anything* However, back to NEWS24 and the snowy, wintery coverage which suddenly became semi obscured by a red flashing banner informing us of “Breaking News”. This particular piece of news continued to dominate the round up of important news events for the rest of the evening. Forget Bird Flu, Global warming, cash for honours scandal (actually, please do forget that one). Hold the front page, Anna Nicholl Smith, a woman primarily famous for marrying an elderly billionanaire and by posing for Playboy has been found dead in a hotel room. Granted this is of passing interest to the odd playboy reader and maybe the afore mentioned billionaire's relatives (who must surely be celebrating pretty hard) but really not worthy of such intense coverage. I do note with interest that last night she was a “model and actress” (can you name one of her films? I looked them up and although I have heard of them it is not because she was in them but then maybe I am of the wrong gender) but today she has slipped a bit to “playboy model (subtle difference there) and opportunist floosie”.. That is not actually quite how they put it on the BBC but you could tell that they were all thinking it. Right, rant over.
Have very nice B&Bers staying (From Balloch), they have just booked in and partaken of a cup of coffee in front of the fire. I shall have to sack the resident woodpecker as he failed to fulfil his part of the bargain struck many a year ago i.e. we give you wild bird seed at huge expense suspended in a very attractive feeder thingy and you make yourself available to be admired by the paying guests whilst they munch on biccies and sip their tea/coffee..

* Obscure reference to the October 1987 Storm Chaos totally missed by the Met office that everyone still remembers and holds against them. We all choose to ignore that since then they have given several hundreds of thousands of accurate, helpful, relentlessly cheerful reports, as we stand arms folded across chests and say through tight lips “ that is as maybe but remember October’87).

Ps I also hate it (I lied about the end of rant bit but they do creep up unexpectedly)when news reporters refer to the dear departed (that is another one that I dislike) as having "passed away" Why can't we just say "dead"?. Please note that when I shuffle off into the hereafter you all have permission to say I have died, especially do not use late.Being a naturally punctual person I never am late unless forced kicking and screaming into it by Garret. I shall haunt anyone who does not abide by these my wishes. However as I am going to outlive you all I shall halt there and go do some ironing.