A reader writes: "Look, all you dickheads filming the entire Robbie Williams concert, I don't care how you watch a show per se, but for the love of God don't hold a giant square up in front of my face for long periods. Take snaps for sure, but it's a blight on concert-going for everyone, particularly short people, if you continually film. Think about your stupid blurry video; there are so many good Robbie concerts in HD for free on YouTube. Why'd you bother filming it?"
Most awkward moments
1. I texted my boss at the end of my first day in the new job with: "Heading out. Love you," intended for my boyfriend.
2. Walked up to a baby-holding stranger (thinking it was my sister) and said, "Give me the baby."
3. I apologised to a woman I nearly bumped into in a record store. It was my reflection in the window. I just dyed my hair blonde.
4. The director of my play asked the audience to "turn off their phones and vibrators" instead of setting phones to vibrate.
5. Pulled in to gas station and was on wrong side of the pump for my gas cap. Drove around to other side and did it again. Drove away.
6. An elderly man presented his discount card to me and I said, "You're getting ready to expire!" I could not recover.
7. I ended a supposedly professional work email to Alcoholics Anonymous with "cheers, Sara."
8. On a trip, saw some baby horses, could not think of the word foal, finally shouted "horse kittens" and pointed. Wife understood.
(Via Jenny Lawson, aka thebloggess.com)
The wages of sin
In 1955, if you were fired you left with a week's pay. According to a report in the The Southeast Missourian newspaper, a work-shy Norman White had a good scam going because of it. "The voice on the phone said: 'Get rid of that man White - he's a homicidal maniac'. White, 29, lost the job he started only an hour before. The same thing had happened four times in three weeks, and each time he collected a week's pay. The voice on the phone, a City Court was told this week, was White himself posing as a police officer. The court gave him eight months in jail for obtaining money by false pretences."
A myna offence
A reader writes: "At a house that my parents used to live at the neighbour had an irritating phone that would ring and ring. We learned later that it was a myna bird that had added the ringtone to its repertoire."
Opinion: Sonny Bill Williams's thoughtless act of generosity has ruined sport for ever, according to this Guardian opinion piece...
Read this: Irish stout maker Guinness is making its brew suitable for vegetarians. They will cease the use of isinglass, a gelatinous substance derived from the swim bladders of fish...
Irish dry stout - now for strict vegetarians.
Good read: Pussy bow blouses and handbags of the Iron Lady weren't an enticing purchase for the Victoria and Albert Museum, who were offered clothing, jewelry, and handbags belonging to the late Margaret Thatcher for its fashion collection...but the offer was declined, with the museum saying they weren't of any great significance fashion-wise and a collection valuing social history would be more appropriate...
