Sunday Supplement 01

~ Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert seems to be experiencing problems with his luggage, in this comedy routine recorded from an unnamed Australian television broadcast. The clip is from YouTube.

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And then there is David Holmes, who works for America's Southwest Airlines. David has achieved fame (as only the internet and YouTube can bestow it), as a rapping flight attendant who knows exactly how to get his passengers to pay attention to the pre-flight announcement that all airlines include at takeoff.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, enjoy the rest of the weekend.

And a Happy Father's Day to everyone celebrating this day in Australia and elsewhere.

The Week That Was #11

Welcome to my weekly collection of The Odd, The Useful, and The Downright Bizarre.

The Odd: First up, I’m posting a video for you to watch, but only if you promise never to do what you are about to see on your next international flight.

Promise? Ok, then. Now you can watch it:



The Useful: 5 secrets for avoiding sky-high cell phone bills. Christopher Elliott, over at Consumer Traveller writes about ways to avoid exorbitant cell phone bills while you are travelling, and recounts one example of Verizon greed when a traveller returned home from vacation to a staggering $8,000 cell phone debt. Among the strategies Elliott suggests for keeping your cell phone costs under control are these: Buy another phone in the country you are visiting; Get a plan that specifically includes overseas calls at favourable rates; Go VOIP and use services such as Skype; Swap cards — that is, swap out the SIM cards on your phone with a local national card; and finally, if all else fails, turn your phone off or better still, leave it at home. Read more here…

The Downright Bizarre: "Putpockets" give a little extra cash. How’s this for a weird promotional idea? A British broadband provider is paying reformed pickpockets to surreptitiously slip money into the pockets of unsuspecting Londoners. Instead of ‘pickpockets’ the firm has coined the word, putpockets, because the former thieves now give people money instead of steal it from them. "It feels good to give something back for a change -- and Britons certainly need it in the current economic climate," said Chris Fitch, a former pickpocket who now heads TalkTalk's putpocketing initiative. Fagan would be rolling over in his grave! Read more here…

Friday Photo #9: Cheeky Monkey

Click image to view larger size…

One of the first places I visited on my return to London in March 2008 (after an absence of over 30 years), was London’s Natural History Museum in Kensington.

Originating from collections within the British Museum, the landmark Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 70 million items within five main collections: Botany, Entomology, Mineralogy, Palaeontology and Zoology. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, and include specimens collected by Charles Darwin.

The foundation of the collection was that of the Ulster doctor Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753). Sloane's collection, which included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, was initially housed in Montague House in Bloomsbury in 1756, which was the home of the British Museum.

Walking through the building taking in the many displays, my attention was captured by the sight of hundreds of carved monkeys climbing the internal walls and support structures of this magnificent building. Like the gargoyles which were the subject of a previous Friday Photo (Friday Photo #4: London Gargoyle), these monkeys and other decorations represent an age when workmanship and beauty were greatly prized and appreciated.

There is much to see and appreciate in the Natural History Museum, and not all of it is behind glass cases. The next time you visit this building, take the time to look around and see how many of these cheeky monkeys adorn the main entry hall, and marvel at the skilful hands that created these objects of delight and splendor.

Note: visible in the photograph are at least 18 similar monkeys on the curved column on the far wall to the left of the monkey shown here in close-up. Presumably someone knows the exact number of monkeys

Visit the Natural History Museum here…

Photograph: Cheeky Monkey, by Jim Lesses

Location: Natural History Museum, London, England

With thanks to Wikipedia for the background information on the Museum