Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Women’s Institute members wore joke eye patches, wigs and wooden legs to greet an old sea dog giving a talk on pirates.

They thought Colin Darch, 75, would regale them with tales of buccaneers such as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd.

But they got a sinking feeling when they realised the retired sea captain was there to tell of his 47-day ordeal at the hands of brutal Somali pirates.

Stephanie George, of the 21-member Parkham WI in Devon, said: “We didn’t know much about him but the notes said he was Captain Darch and he was talking about piracy.

“I thought he was from a local fundraising group who dress up as pirates to raise money for charity.

"Naturally everyone was aghast when we realised our mistake.

“There he was delivering this harrowing story about how he was held hostage and feared for his life, and we were all sitting there dressed as Captain Hook.

“We apologised profusely but Mr Darch was a great sport and it didn’t seem to phase him at all.
Colin, from Appledore, Devon, was taken hostage by 20 gun-toting pirates who hijacked his 120-foot ship off the coast of Somalia in 2008.

He and an engineer were ordered to sail the Danish-registered Svitzer Korsakov and warned they would be shot if they disobeyed their captors.

The crew were only freed after a rumoured £350,000 ransom was paid.

Married granddad-of-12 Colin went to the WI meeting to read extracts from his book Capture By Somali Pirates & Other Events At Sea.

Thankfully he saw the funny side. He said: “They seemed to be a little embarrassed but it didn’t offend me in the slightest.

“It’s been five years now and sometimes I have to remind myself just how terrifying and frightening it was.

“In any event, the ladies didn’t look the slightest bit like Somali pirates - more like the Pirates of Penzance.

“In the end they asked me to select the best costume. I gave them all marks out of ten. It was just a bit of fun.”

One WI member wrote an official notice about the talk saying: “Embarrassingly, the WI all dressed up as pirates for the event, not realising that Captain Darch was going to be talking about his experience of being held hostage by Somali pirates rather than piracy in general.

Haystack - post 24642. Okay I must be a loony then, having been a Conservative voter for nearly 30 years. The Conservative party need to get their act together as they have totally lost the plot imo. The fact that they couldn't win a General Election outright after 11 years of Labour government and with Gordon Brown as Prime Minister surely sends out a message that something is going radically wrong. You talk abut UKIP not vetting their candidates properly - my God, I don't think I've read the papers one day for the last few years when an MP of any of the three main parties hasn't disgraced himself/herself. Vetting policy for candidates - the Conservatives, Labour and Liberals need to get their own houses in order before they start pontificating on that issue.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/local-elections/10036765/Local-election-analysis-Is-Ukip-a-passing-storm-or-a-major-earthquake.html

Haystack Posy- 24652

What did you wear to the party?

Just seen image of Manuel and you:

d4
You may well vote for UKIP, but I am sure you really know that they cannot get elected. All you will achieve is that Labour will find it easier to get elected.

as it happens, i didn't go to Eton, but it's a great shame that (fos) fred and his ilk, through choice and ignorance, always choose to deride it (and other top private schools), for it is actually a very good school indeed

We do not need any more clowns Fred, ones enough on here is it not? :-))

Cynic,

Didn't think they would have you, even if you wanted go "there"?

What I was inferring (even badly) is how the tories and even U-Kippers are out of date and although appealing to the looney right and blue blue rinse part of society.

However, I think in the UK there is more moderate consensus of opinion and will at the next G/election reject the right wing, especially when then the inappropriate cuts become more evident and the pandering to the "city" and "greed" becomes more evident.

UKIP appeal to the righteous voluble group, while the tories under Cameron are appealing to less and less of the voters.

The problem the tories has, is that the majority to the tory leadership appears inept, or unappealing and out of touch with the mass of voters. There isn't anybody to replace Cameron at the moment for the tories, even if he is a failure, they are stuck with him.


May 7th 2015 is an interesting date. (Tick, Tock.)

I wonder if DC and GO will stay the course. ( It could be GO DC.)

In their obvious belief in democracy, perhaps, hays and manuel could stand in order to strengthen tory vote. Probably that would be a bit like Clarke calling the UKIP clowns.

what's it to you? ..... you can't be arsed to vote for anyone, whether blue, pink, green or red, so learn to live with what you then get and deserve

Big thankyou to Nige and Ukip, just the kick up the arse the Tories needed, to avoid the complacency so apparent in the past, perhaps this time they will realise the electorate (well let's be honest, tiny majority in the big scheme of things) have given them a massive heads up on what to target. Fred (who can't be arsed to vote and speaks shite at the best of times) clutching at straws as per. :O)

unlike (fos)fred, and whether or not many do not like what you write, at least you voted (i hope!)

Natch cynic.

Manuel.

I don't vote, but watching the game of politics has always fascinated me.

A bit like sitting outside a bar in Paris on a warm summer's day with cold bottle of wine of day, watching the world go by and recognising one's own insignificance.

the last part is spot on, but when you're sitting in your pavement cafe, you don't spend your time (even you i hope), berating people for living in that country (france) and putting up with the taxation system, unions, immigration problems etc, unlike you do on this thread .... if you did, the adjoining table might well retort, "what's it to do with you?" which is rather as here where it would be said, "but you don't even vote for anything different, so cut the incessant whingeing and live with it"

Agree with you Chris, the Tories needed a good kick up the backside. I don't know who Cameron's advisers are, but they need to re-write the script before it's too late.

Just a break from some of the Right Wing abuse on here:
At the end of todays last game of the season Danny Ings gave his boots to a young kid in a wheelchair and kissed him on the head.. Nice touch in an age where footballers are often criticised for only thinking about their pay cheques.



OK, carry on as you wish.

Actually I thought it was left wing abuse.

Although I do not follow football, it was a very nice gesture from the footballer concerned to make a little boys day happy and I suppose for the rest of his life. There are lots of good people out there. I wish this political stuff would end as nobody is getting anywhere.

Fabulous Stan, nice touch.

Manuel,

Not surprising, that your experiences of France and the French and mine are different.

Often talk with them about the politics of the UK and Europe and how they view the little englanders. Also, discussed the ongoing politics and developments and hopes of France and Europe. Rather than just how much they could get out of Europe.

Found them very interesting, tolerant to differing views opinions and not fixed in their positions, also very humorous and good humoured. Not abusive, such as calling opposition groups clowns, etc.

Many times I wished I was still allowed to smoke Gauloises or Gitanes and could take the same amount of brandy.

But different people and different experiences.