If people would like to have a press that has integrity….we have to speak out against it’s lack of integrity. The focus should on both national and international news, then sports and gossip columns bringing up the rear.

Those papers should stop pandering to the lowest common denominator (sex) for the short term spike to the circulation figures and realise the damage and lack of quality can do to the continued decline in Newspaper sales.

Give me something interesting, not frivolous….something meaningful to add value and make me want to buy newspapers on a daily basis.

The press is so busy in a smarmy way holding everyone else to account…no one is holding the press up for scrutiny.

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Are there too many distractions….now that top players live like pop stars?….don’t they have the same pride to play for their country?……………..would any of them turn up if they were not being paid?…….. Do the players weld too much power?……….is that why Mclaren dropped Beckham?……….. Has the media got to take its share of blame in all of this by…………building up the egos of these players?……………..of trying to get each manager fired?…..just to sell more newspapers?………A journalist once told me…never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

We seem to have the same problem with other English sports teams and other individual sport-persons…where they are trotted out often prematurely as the next world-beaters.
Rather then letting them mature and perhaps be better in their chosen field.

Tacking on a little extra about the cricket team………..how could Freddy Flintoff get drunk during the world cup cricket tournament? …Do these highly skilled sportsmen have a deficit
in the cranial department because of their athletic talents?

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And just like my ex..they certainly stuck in my throat!!!!

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For years successive British Governments have for the most part allow the package tour operators carte blanche. And thus the pricing structure is mind numbingly complex.
With fuel surcharges, paying for in-flight meals, legroom, and underoccupancy, seasonal prices that really penalise you if your travelling during school holidays....I'm sure that there are several surcharges I have forgot to mention.

Then there is the issue of being a single parent traveling with your kids...you get penalised by paying almost full adult price.

If all that wasn't enough to put you off forever....then there other annoying situations like checkout times. I had to checkout my room by 12noon even though my flight home was not until 4am the next day!!!
Since I was travelling with my young daughter I decided that I had to pay extra for a late checkout room....First Choice wanted to charge me £32 to have room from 12noon-6pm...I queried why the late room was only available until 6pm?
Looking for alternatives I phoned the hotel directly in Majorca and was told I could book a late room for 30euros about £22 and I could use the room until my coach left for the airport.

I don't buy daytrips via the holiday rep because the exact same trip can be bought for less if you book directly...sometimes the price difference is 20%!!!

The day that I arrived I foolishly lost a shopping bag containing my reading glasses. Even though I spoke to several reps at length for 2 days they made no attempt to either help me find the lost glasses or offer to write a report that I now need for my insurance claim.
Overall I had a good holiday in spite of First Choice not because of them.

One more important point I'd like to make about pricing is how often they change....often to pressure you into making a snap decision. The company admitted to me that holiday prices on their Internet site changed more than once a day.

Would people buying a suit or trolley full of groceries put up with rising prices by the time they reached the checkout?

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What is the fascination with watching a bunch of no talent weirdo’s live in a house?
Why don’t the people watching the show know that they are just encouraging more similar rubbish?

The production companies laugh all the way to the bank, because they make so much money on a show that costs them so little. Perhaps there have been quality TV pilots made and dropped because high-powered TV executives demand more reality shows.

Will the rabid watchers of this drivel be happy when the only shows on TV are reality shows? No more historical dramas..after all they are too expensive and don’t make as much profit…No more award winning nature programs, their audience is ever smaller than the historical drama.

Nearly all the quality programs these days are made in the US not the UK, we have more and more channels filled with repeats or dross. Of course there are exceptions (Dr Who is one of them) but can you name another 6 quality British made programs?

To me watching Big Brother is like being a nosy neighbour and peering through your curtains to see what is going on. Each show the producers play one person off against another, encouraging the contestants to sink to new lows. How far down this road do we go? When is enough …really enough? Should the contestants kill each other to decide who the winner is? I know that sounds far fetched but..if the concept of Big Brother was explained to audiences 20 years ago they would think you were mad.

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Often kids use up all the credits chatting or texting gossip with their school friends so they rarely have any airtime left when mom has asked them to call.

My brother-in-law who is a teacher tells me they even text each other during lessons when they are in the same class…. a bit like passing a message…only more expensive.

Then there is the health concerns and of course phone companies and manufacturers have greatly down played these... its bad for business. (Wonder if there are any former cigarette executives inside phone companies?)

Communication
Does the parent of a phone carrying child have better communication after purchasing the phone…in my experience no. Often kids spend several hours texting talking once they get home with friends they have spent all day with? This extra chatting/texting shrinks the chances of talking with mom and dad even more.

The only plus side that I can see is the child’s mobile phone frees up the house land line so you can call a friend and bemoan the fact that your child never talks to you?

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In my experience with these companies since the change from 192 BT run service, none of them seems to have a complete data base…it conjures up the mental picture that when the change happened one complete yellow pages was fought over and torn into 3-4 pieces. It’s a classic example of what happens when people ignore the adage “If it aint broke don’t fix it”.

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The phenomenon I wanted to talk about started roughly 2 years ago. Young women began wearing short t-shirts that exposed their tummies. My first few “viewings” were very pleasant because the women in question were both attractive and slim. One morning however…it happened….the scary thing…suddenly overweight young women started to wear the same short t-shirts and I want to know who is to blame?
Who forces me to watch beached whales and wannabe beached whales shake their undulating rolls of sweaty fat as they waddle down the high streets of the UK.

The Suspects

The fashion designer: Oh course they have to bear some of the responsibility for coming up with the design in the first place; however since they always use skinny super models perhaps they couldn’t foresee how their fashionable efforts would be misused.

Mainstream clothing stores: Surely the shops on our high street must take a large share of the blame, after all if certain fashions were only manufactured in smaller sizes then I wouldn’t be writing this article.

Tattoo artists and naval jewellery makers: Obviously these two groups would also gain if their art and jewellery got maximum exposure.

Parents: I’m constantly amazed at how little they seem to know about their teenage children, where they go, who they are with. They give a bunch of clichéd answers when referring to their teenagers…”going through a faze”…..”It’s my daughter’s friends who are the bad influence”… “If I buy her clothes she just wont wear them”.
What a cop out!!! Until the teenager starts work and earns their own money the parents have all the control they need…they should regain control by removing privileges when necessary. Nobody said parenting was easy…sometimes love also involves saying no to stubborn kids and following through.

You: It may be your first opportunity at being socially responsible, for goodness sake don’t let us all down. If your about to step out of your house with a women who should definitely not be showing off their body please…please find a way to break the news to them…. perhaps by screaming in their ear… “Your gonna scare old men with that!”

In summary
If I want to see fat bellies…I can go to a football match….thankyou.

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It’s hard to believe that this blog is only 10days old! Already it feels comfortable like a pair of old slippers.

We are just a couple of comme il faut geezers who feel it's time for common sense to be heard…so please keep the comments coming and tell your friends about our little blog and how it’s a haven from the madness out there.
Chris (aka grumpyoldmen)

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Tough Cookies!

Upstairs in bed, a little old man was gasping for his last breath. Everyone had written him off as terminal, but suddenly he woke up and smelled fresh cookies baking in the kitchen downstairs.

He struggled down the steps and, to everyone's astonishment, appeared in the kitchen where his wife was baking. He saw a tray of cookies and reached out for one.

His wife slapped his hand and said, "Oh, no, you don't! Those are for the funeral!"

and here's another.......
Advice for the Lovelorn

"My husband has cheated on me from the beginning, and when I confront him, he denies everything. What's worse, everyone knows he cheats on me. It is so humiliating. Also, since he lost his job four years ago, he hasn't even looked for a new one. All he does is buy big cigars and cruise around and shoot the breeze with his pals, while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college, he doesn't even pretend to like me. What should I do?"

"Grow up and dump him. For Pete's sake, you don't need him anymore. You're a United States Senator from New York. Act like one."

thanks brigette
www.pleasehelpmeImfalling.blogspot.com

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“So what your saying is that the back of the hand was made for noisy prattish tykes on buses??

i like your thinking, illegal it would seem...but logical. Hobbit

What I’m trying to say is that too many parents mistakenly protect their children from the consequences of their actions….at school….on the street corner or even on a bus.
The result is that children are not learning the moral and social boundaries that past generations did and we as a society are all the poorer for it. Sometimes angry parents defend indefensible actions of their out of control children, rather than allowing their children to learn however painful that actions have consequences.

I think our society was better when all adults (within reason) challenged and chastised kids when they were misbehaving in public and without their parents.

My argument is not so much about hitting kids, as it is about us all abdicating our social and moral responsibilities and the consequences of that.

A couple years ago I was riding the upper deck of a bus into the city centre in the morning and two young men were smoking a joint on the back seat. I didn’t care whether it was a joint or cigarette just that they were breaking the rules of the bus company and I did not wish to put up with the smoke.

When I asked them to politely put it out their language was of course foul; they then went on to point out in their defence that no one else had complained only me. And that is the trouble today....I was the only brave or stupid soul to speak out. I even went downstairs to complain…but of course the bus driver was too afraid to eject these two.

If they want to smoke weed at their own house, that’s their business but not on a bus.
I know it seems such a minor point to rail on about but if we don’t defend the norm and structure of our lives then one day we will wake up to find total chaos…a world where the majority of reasonable people are cowed into silence by a small but violent minority…hang on a minute that sounds a bit like today?

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Ancient man developed common sense to instintively warn him of the dangers in his world. As mankind developed further common sense spread into other areas of our lives, for ourselves and our families. Common sense taught us how to stay dry, warm, fed, alive.

Therefore to me the importance of “Common Sense” is paramont, without it as a species we would not have developed as far as we have.

Somewhere in the late 70’s during the “me generation” the development of our species hit a brick wall…..you think I jest…but no..I am ernestly serious.
Along with the beginning of the “me crowd” came the lowering of responibilites in our world. Suddenly clever lawyers were duping juries into not guilty verdicts due to a rush of blood, a moment of madness, the twinkie defense,diminished responsiblities seemed to get broader and broader. People who have done terrible things have gotten away with it,if they have a lot of money or a great lawyer.

Yet I see very little defense by us………of common sense, we ring our hands and bemoan the lack of common sense in today’s world but we moan and grumble amongst ourselves, not to our leaders (in business and politics).

This shrinking of common sense has seemingly left a vacuum which has been filled with an avalanch of rules and regulations; trying to make good the short fall of common sense. But we all know in truth this does not properly replace common sense. These often absurb rules just frustrate the majority of the people and yet rarely stop or curtail the behavior of the unruly few.

But in some small way we are all to blame and have neglected our moral and social responsibilites. We can't complain about the lack common sense if we are unwilling to speak out when it is absent.

When I was a school child misbehaving on a bus some adult would be sure to correct my behavior either verbally or even perhaps more forcefully by grabbing me and giving me a good telling off.
Today..doing such a thing would get the said adult arrested on all manner of charges and probably they would also run the gaunlet of the local/national media. Now don’t try and tell me we are a better, more caring, more civilized society now than 40 years ago.

If we trully want the world to be a better place we all have our parts to play, to stand up for what is right…and we all know right from wrong,
After all…..common sense tells us so.

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I can even now look back (as long as I put my glasses on) to the memories of early mornings. You see my then wife named Lisa who was a vision of beauty, her long blonde hair…sometimes in a French Braid or just gently cascading down her statuesque perfect size 10 frame. Even although we were married she still had an air of mystery that I admired, a certain femininity that even I could not see beyond.

Our very different time tables, which meant I didn’t have to rise at the same time as her. Often half awake after reaching out and groping the empty-space next to me, I would dreamily watch her getting dressed and putting on her make-up.
She looked a picture of calmness, serenity, her hair just so…her choice of clothes perfect for the time of year. Even her choice of perfume seemed enough to leave a memory of her in the bedroom….not too much just enough to tease my senses. She looked so beautiful and yet also a professional businesswomen.

Rude Awakening

We lived in a rather plush high-rise apartment complex which was complete with it’s own built-in shops (similar to the ones you find in swanky hotels) these included a gym, mini-supermarket, clothes boutique and even a hairdresser.

We lived on the 7th floor and about to go to some forgettable social event.
Being a weekend the lobby and lifts were full…lots of people milling around as we got it the elevator. As we squeezed into the already full lift, we noted some familiar faces of neighbours in the crowd.

Suddenly and without warning my beautiful and demure wife who was standing at side, let out the loudest.. longest…smelliest fart I had every experienced anywhere in my life. As quickly as the gas attack ended she turned to me and asked…”OH Kevin how could you?”

Of course the rest of the full elevator presumed that I had let rip…not my sweet demure wife, who had managed to keep a straight face. The accusing looks that bore down on me as we all endured the remaining 6 floors of descent to the ground floor was almost unbearable. The smell lingered as we all impatiently waited for the lift to come to a complete stop before the doors began to open. My silent blushes only confirmed to my fellow passengers of my guilt.

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Mostly politicians…in the end get what they deserve.
Perhaps their political ambitions are born out of seeing injustice and wanting to put the situation right. But some how and somewhere in the long climb to the lofty heights of power their common sense and connection with the common man gets left behind. Perhaps the change is so incremental that change is not acknowledged…until the change is so great that it becomes something to be denied.

Both men and women from time to time have affairs but I can’t understand why people under the microscopic glare of the British Press would be dumb enough to think they can hide an affair for very long.

I’m not going to get into the politics of the day…the finger pointing etc, because the truth is that in my life time all the major parties have failed in one way or another; if only they were half as good as they thing they are we would all be better off….As the saying goes…”Power corrupts…and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

Another unfortunate Headline the other day on my AOL home page read……
“Prescott gets probed by the police”….so it seems poor John is getting from all angles these days.

The Press we deserve?…There are no wieners
The other story surrounding this sorry affair is the state of the British Press….
Is there any depth they will not sink or stoop to just to titter late?
The Sun the other day ran a piece about Prescott lover’s accusation that poor John only has a 2 inch manhood and highlighted the fact by selling wiener sausages outside his office. Now this story….I have to admit is funny..in a sad sort of way but the really sad thing is often real news stories get overlooked or edited out to make space for tripe like this. As a newspaper reporter once told me….”We are not gonna let a little thing like truth get in the way of a good story”.

On a slightly more serious note the seeming demotion of Jack Straw mystified me. Regardless of your political views Mr Straw is a skilled Parliamentarian who is respected by many Tories and Libdems as well as other politicians around the world. At face value he has been loyal and competent cabinet minister, sometimes carrying out unpopular policies of the Prime minister, but now that seems enough to get him demoted?

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So I feel a need to cheer our colleague up with a few honest observations.
Firstly I’ve often seen pretty women (sometime 2 at a time in fact draped on the arms of Patrick Moore. Why is that you ask…. I believe it’s down to his sexy eyebrows..
Sexy ?…you say…yes to me they conjure up the image of 2 furry caterpillars in constant copulation because they are joined together; this unwittingly sends out a subliminal message which seems to be mostly picked up by very attractive young women. The subliminal message is of course that the wearer is constantly looking for copulation.

Another well-known man with a luxurious pair of caterpillars was Dennis Healey
He too seemed to attract much younger very beautiful women to his side.
Could this extra mane of hair remind sexually active women of our caveman past….Another subliminal message that touches their mostly dormant animalistic urges and draws them in. On the other hand my two caterpillars seem to be lurking in the Bushys.

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To read this posting you need to go to the article titled "Grumpyoldmen"-The trouble about women. Click on the comments and scroll down to the one by ChrisandKev titled
I Sit Down To Pee.

Enjoy..and keep those comments flying in.

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Several months ago these two grumpy old men decided to take the plunge and go clubbing in the Worcestershire town of Kidderminster….What an eye opener.

After a nice home cooked dinner we drove to the night-spot and were amongst the early arrivals. The average age looked about 22…we felt so old.
The choices of beer were not choice….just keg bitter or lager some things in clubbing never change. We found a table at a raise part of the floor plan, which would give us a good viewing advantage point.

By 11pm the place was fast filling up and I noticed that we seemed to be the only two sober people in the club?…..Seems that these days the gig is to get shit-faced before you go out.

Another half an hour on and I seemed to be often defending my beer from over zealous glass collectors. These days their main job is to pick up bottles since most of the drinks consumed were of a bottle variety.

Just then an empty beer bottle whizzed past my left ear..and then another and another.
No a fight hadn't broken out it was just the lazy glass/bottle collector who was throwing the empties over my shoulder rather than walk them into the wheelie bin a few feet away. I had to get very grumpy before he paid heed to my complaint.

Just then a kafuffle seemed to break out over in the direction of the wheelie bin. Had some poor fellow clubber been hit by one of the thrown bottles? Suddenly with the help of her friends a women unsteadily got to her feet looking very unwell, it was then that we noticed that this was infact a women of our own age group it seemed the only one in the club;the brief notion of a dance was interrupted by her noisily throwing up into the aforementioned wheelie bin. It was at that point we decided to call it a night.

Bushy Ears
It happens in your thirties but you don’t really pay it much attention until your into your early 40’s and some kindly person points out. "The hair growing out of your ears is in fact quite luxurious and definitely thicker than some parts of your scalp." You can ignore it no longer so you try shaving your ears only to discover how easily they bleed…..and bleed. You trim what you can see but by now without your glasses you miss quite a lot. The most embarrassing is after a visit to the hairdresser, when you unwittingly go home with your bushy ears in full view.
I mean ..shouldn’t a discreet hairdresser run their razor over your flowing locks to save your embarrassment and earn their tip?

I’m sitting here wondering what is the female equivalent, a moustache? Hairy nipples? Only on a topless beach I guess…now where are those damned earmuffs!!!

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If women can complain that there is too much football on TV these days I would like to make the same comment about the soaps.
Emerdale,Corrie,Eastenders,Home and Away,Neighbors and then all the medical soaps.

So just as an experiment I like the women to dress up in there best lingerie next time the footie is on….and guys I‘d like you to write your beloved a poem and when Corrie comes on stand in front of the screen and recite it.
If she throws something heavy at you duck out of the way…...yes even if the said object crashes into the TV.

You see you can’t get the soap opera out of your life…...but you could have a good excuse for a bigger screen in time for the world cup!

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A wedding is the brides day and for heaven's sake don't make a joke about the garrish bride's maid dresses....let alone suggest the reception money would make a good size down payment on the house.

Then there's the LIST...for single men reading this you are probably mystified..so go and ask a married mate about the LIST.
The list phenomenon as far as historical research can tell is only 2 generations old but its growth is rapid. In essence the list makes sure days off are not filled with leisure. And yet I have heard of a chap that wrote his wife a list and was kicked out that night.

Then there are certain younger women who are given the name ladettes...they like to drink like yobbish men swear and throw up at the end of the night..........I mean what is that all about? why would they want to imitate men after all we've become a bunch of eunuchs.

Don't think that these grumpyold men hate women..we don't!!! We hate men for giving women some much control over our lives.

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When a company executive has his/her own personnel frustrating experience with a customer service department…. does this make them take stock of their own company? Are they able to honestly admit that customer service these days is too much a PR exercise about damage limitation…. and very little about speedily correcting a problem.

So much money and time are spent by companies finding new customers, but so little in keeping customers. Existing customers put up with things like computerized telephone systems that never seem to have the option you need.…so you stoically listen again. Or talking to people in other countries instead of being able to talk with the branch 2 miles from your house.

We all seem to live in this dishonest malaise filled with sound bites, catch phrases…a place where "quality time", "downsizing" and "rationalization" when what we really need is honesty and commonsense. After all “quality time” is only a phrase invented by guilty parents who don’t spend enough time with their kids. “Downsizing” is just firing your workers so you can move the work abroad to cheaper labour markets. “Rationalization” is convincing your remaining workers to work harder for the same amount of money.

Individually we have to make a stand in our own jobs and professions, to stop the deteriation of a product or service just to save money.

The other question I'd like to ask has two parts….What happens when the majority of companies have made all the cuts they can and there is no more fat?….but my other more telling query is …Why is British management bereft of innovation and commonsense and so poor at emulating the American and Japanese business models?

Isn’t it possible for a company to have a moral compass these days?
To make a good profit but not at the expense and misery of others?
We excuse so much as long as it is cheap....cheap food ....cheap clothes. perhaps in the process we have all cheapened the quality of our lives.

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You see most men sooner or later want the same thing a quiet life....And by that I mean they usually end up accepting things for the sake peace and quiet.

That in itself seems either lazy or laudable....or perhaps both. The down side of giving in 100% on minor issues is women end up convinced that we are incapable of making a decision.

Then there is the issue of how women perceive us. Whenever men are told off about leaving the toilet seat up we stay silent and look sheepish rather than pointing out in equal measure the faults of our female partners. We don’t complain about the overly feminine bedroom décor, or the fact we can never get into the bathroom if our household has teenage females in it…or that there is no space in the bathroom cabinet (that we put up) because it is filled with makeup, tampons, cotton wool pads and other “can’t live with out girlie paraphernalia.

We need to regain an equal footing in relationships and point out to women that just like men they too have faults….Faults that for the most part men choose to turn a blind eye to for love or for the sake of peace.
Grumpyoldmenbychrisandkev© 2006.
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