Tuesday 22 April 2014

Pangolin Obituaries

Zymchuk Feofilakt 13/5/1908 - 21/4/2014

Now sadly departed, Zymchuk, or 'Ymch' as he was known to his friends, was a traveller of international renown. He boasted that he'd deported from nearly all of the countries in the EU and also the Baltic States on account of his appalling hairstyles and unfeasible facial hair.

He always attributed his extreme longevity to his diet of Reckitts Paris Blue.

He did have a very shiny forehead. Unfortunately, last Monday a passing stork saw the gleam and, mistaking it for a fish pond, dived downwards in an enthusiastic manner in order to enter the water.

This effectively poleaxed Mr Feofilakt. A passer by, Venomus Pling, informed ambulance staff: "He already had this really dreadful hair, but once that bird with the long legs got involved his whole head looked 100 times worse. He couldn't even pretend he was wearing a fascinator rather than a hat!".

Sunday 20 April 2014

In Your Garden - with Ken Dibstick

Our gardening expert writes:

Soil always gives problems in gardens and should be replaced by the kind of proprietary growing medium available from all good garden centres or, better still, 3 ft of quick-set ready-mix and a topping of Cotswold paving. 

With winter rains over and the last of the year's frosts safely behind us, now is the time to get busy with the concrete mixer, re-surfacing and laying new beds for the future. It's a grand time to be outside, every garden buzzing with strimmer, stump-grinder, chainsaw, power-wash and mechanical flail, each competing to outdo its neighbour with the sounds of Spring. Hover-mowers are most people's favourite for decibels, though I once had a diesel-powered rotary that could shake the china in houses more than two streets away. In past centuries it was the job of small boys to wave rattles and bang saucepan lids in order to keep scavenging birds off crops and gardens. I've found these days that leaving the concrete mixer to turn all hours of daylight works just as well. To be doubly sure, leave a good radio alongside, tuned in to a local station.

Fruit-bushes are particularly prone to attack from insect-forms that crawl up stems, be those aphids, thrips or the devilishly cunning scale-insect. Traditional counter-measures work best and now is the time to be fitting those grease-bands that will save your crop from devastation. It's a tiresome job getting the collars on to the little perishers, one that calls for nimble fingers and a steady hand.

Summer pruning of soft fruit: stick to simple basics, intercalating to third bud of south-facing spurs on new season's growth, whilst taking care not to spline secondary shooters beyond 45 deg in alkaline conditions without cautionary pre-dusting of Bordeaux with soft-hair sable no more than 13mm beyond blench where splashing has occurred.

Next month: re-ordering that Hot Tub that still hasn't arrived.



Good gardening!

Friday 18 April 2014

Thought for the Day, with Justin Webly, more or less Arch of Cant

Hullo.

Justin here, and in a world torn by tragedy, conflict, avarice, greed, lechery, cowardice and cruelty, our thoughts naturally turn to The Greatest Story Ever Told – not necessarily the film of that name, although I was taken to see that cinematographic milestone as a boy, by an especially devout maiden aunt, who went “Oooh” and “Aaaah” a lot. It is a long film and I had TWO ice cream tubs – the ones with little wooden spoons. In fact, a childhood friend, Donald Rossiter, once got a nasty splinter from one of those lodged in his tongue and had to be taken to hospital to have it removed. Ever afterwards, he answered the register by saying “Yeth thir.”

But I digress. For a man of the cloth, the way each religious festival is presented is very important and whilst I will celebrate Easter in the traditional fashion at the Abbey, my thoughts turned to the question of perhaps organising and presenting a more public event which might attract not only the devout, but also the unengaged amongst us.

To my surprise, the young man with the wire in his ear took an immediate interest. I had resigned myself long ago to his apparent agnosticism, but he was very swift in suggesting what he called “a crucifixion sort of thing”. He proposed enlisting the services of some of the local homeless men and dressing some as apostles, some as Romans, and one as Jesus. This last, suggested the young man with the wire in his ear, should “look a bit like Rambo”, whoever that is. His enthusiasm was infectious and he went on to describe the scenario, aided by some enthusiastically sketched pictures of Our Lord being bloodily scourged, whipped, abused and finally nailed to the Cross. 

My lady wife and I thanked him very much, but were taken aback when he said, “Ah, but it doesn’t end there!” Before I could congratulate him on his knowledge of the scriptures, he went on, “No. You see, just before they nail him to the Cross, he head-butts the geezer with the hammer, shoves a nail in his eye, knees his mate in the goolies, leaps down and grabs the centurion’s spear, does for ‘im, then all his mates do the same to the rest of the Roman guard – blood everywhere – an’ a dyin’ guard says to camera – “Surely this man is the son o’ Gawd. Uuuurrr.” Then Jesus and his elite crew hunt down Judas and do for ‘im and the whole thing closes with JC and mates heading for the Roman HQ and a seriously bad end for that pilot bloke."

There was a brief silence until my lady wife said, “What a load of gratuitous nonsense. We will have nothing to do with it. You silly boy!” – this last delivered with enough passion (excuse the pun) to upturn her mug of Drambuie.

So instead, we’re having an Easter Bonnet parade.

Blessings


Justin.

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Pangolin: For Sale

BIT OF VERY BADLY PLASTERED WALL

I'd heard of this new-fangled device for seeing through brick walls - I believe it's called a window - and thought I might install one in my basement flat. Hence reason for sale.

I know it's a crap piece of craftsmanship, but if you smoke a lot of weed and then sit and look at it, I think you'll agree there's a lot more to it than you first thought.


Mortgages can be arranged; otherwise please send your sealed bids to me at:

Turdus Krepp
18889 Short Street
Abington Piglets
Cambs

P.S. COMING SOON:  Very badly iced bit of wedding cake.

Monday 14 April 2014

Ask Lady Violet

Dear Lady Violet,

I think my boyfriend may be seeing someone else. He went off to a wedding (without me) a couple of weeks ago, and when I looked through the photos afterwards, he seemed to be the bridegroom. He's been off on a business trip - supposedly - for the last two weeks, but I've just got a postcard from him in Barbados when he told me his business trip was to Milton Keynes.

What should I do if he comes back? How will I explain the mess in the flat to my landlord once I've beheaded him? (My boyfriend, that is, not the landlord).

Yours in anticipation,

Emmeline Gunge (Mrs)

Lady V:
My Dear Miss Gunge,
                                         
First, a few words of sympathy and admiration  - the latter for your bravery in retaining such an awful family name, and the former for your bravery in retaining such an awful family name.
                                         
As for your first hand experience of male shallowness, it is quite natural to think of various forms of retribution, including beheading. But I would counsel against such a course. It is a very messy business and could possibly get you into quite serious trouble with the authorities, let alone the effect the results may have upon your landlord.
                                         
No, I do not think you should chop your boyfriend's head off. You might instead consider two alternatives. One; accept what has happened and pull your landlord. Or, two; if your landlord is unavailable, unattractive or broke, engage the services of your local La Cosa Nostra killer. Most towns have at least one and details are to be had at your local Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Yours etc.


Dear Lady Violet,

How can I stop my tom from marking his territory behind the sofa? It was bad enough when it was just the cat doing it.

Cheers,

Debbi Cobb-Webbi
Groby
Leics

Lady V:
Dear Miss Cobb-Webbi,
                                           
Pepper, broken glass, and floor anchored razor wire usually do the trick in these situations, but a deeper understanding as to precisely why your male persists may be found in Dr P J Whimbrel's excellent study, "They Do it Standing Up", available at all good book shops and through the online supplier, Amazon.

Yours etc.


Dear Lady Violet,

It's not often that you receive enquiries from shrubbery, I expect, but given that you have a name of a vegetal nature I felt that you may be sympathetic. I have been troubled recently by this disgusting little bastard by the name of Nerd, who insists on rolling around on me. I wouldn't mind but he doesn't seem to change his underpants very often.

How can I get him to roll around somewhere else, and leave me alone?

Kind regards,

Rhoda Dendron
Balsall Heath Park

Lady V:
Dear Miss Dendron,
                                     
You are correct. Enquiries from greenery of any sort are rare. I did have some awfully sad letters from several roses , most of whom wanted to know how they might avoid dead - heading, but that was years ago.
                                      
I have thought about your problem long and hard. Given that plants, like humans, communicate with each other, you might try to attract the attention of any yew trees in your immediate area. As you know, these are extremely poisonous trees which might be persuaded to lean down and brush against your tormentor, thus placing him in a dead situation.

Yours etc.

Sunday 13 April 2014

Friday 11 April 2014

On This Day...

Five Years Ago

A row broke out between the organisers of Quaffers, the annual banquet held for top city bankers, and S&B Functions, the company division that catered for this occasion. Among the complaints raised by those attending were the extra-high prices charged, long delays in getting served, meagre portions and lack of seconds. City caterers Stuffit & Binge responded by pointing out that the event was held against a background of worldwide recession, not of their making, besides which it was essential to charge as they did in order to maintain the Rolls Royce service for which they were known on a global basis. It was normal and necessary in catering for providers to serve themselves first and see to their own needs ahead of the rest in order to be properly fortified and fuelled up for the task ahead. Finally, the airing of such complaints in public could only lead to companies such as theirs leaving the capital in their droves and losing London its place at the top-table of world-class catering.


Ten Years Ago

The curtain came down on another production by Ham Players that will stay long in the memory. James Joyce's 'Ulysses', adapted for the stage by veteran producer Phyllis Pardew, was performed without break in a seven-hour marathon repeated over six successive evenings. Once again the female lead was played by Beryl Streep, who gave her all to the famous monologue of Molly Bloom. Coaching in the Irish accent was given by Wardrobe Mistress Edna 'Hoots' McNab, ably assisted on this occasion by Megan Davies from Props. Trevor Poggle provided the rain.


Eighty Years Ago


Partington Towers, ancestral home since medieval times of the ffayne-Partington family, was burnt to the ground in a blaze that lit up the night sky and was seen from eight counties. The fire, believed to have been caused by an electrical fault, began in the East Wing. This housed the laboratories used by scientific researcher Claude ffayne-Partington to develop a new range of flavoured cigarettes for the children's market. The conflagration was witnessed by all the residents of nearby Partington Polloy, some of whom came to work the stirrup-pumps and fire-buckets and others to take in the smoke.

Tuesday 8 April 2014

Following the success of the Facebook Page 'Women who Eat on the Tubes', the Pangolin is proud to announce that its followers can now upload their own pictures of 'Men Picking Their Noses on the Tubes'. Like the ladies' version, all these pictures have been taken without their owners' knowledge or permission and, similarly, are not an attempt to get the rest of us to sneer or otherwise view with contempt.

So, here's a Pangolin first:
Ian Duncan-Smith on the Central Line

The latest, latest acquisition for Glossop Museum of Pictures an' That

Locust swarm, La Crau with Peach Trees in Blossom 1889

Thursday 3 April 2014

Cassius Pugnatius Seagull

It came to my attention whilst surfing the airwaves that many of the residents of Bulverhythe had washed their cars. Further along, into TN38 territory, several of those massive mansions on the sea front had been painted stark white - a delicate operation, and I'd been biding my time for several months.

However, now the scaffolding's gone - and my moment has come!

Bombs Awayyyyyy!  Whoosh! Saved the particularly brown pooh for the white buildings and cars, and the white pooh for the poncy black ones.

I noticed a couple of horrid little kids making fake pooh out of toothpaste and soy sauce and putting it on car windscreens. Pathetic little amateurs... I waited til they were engrossed with a BMW and then...

BOMBS AWAYYYYY!!!!!!!