Interesting Choices 13.03.08

I mentioned The Grinch in my last post and it reminded me of a very odd conversation I had with Sam the other day. He told me that at school he had to prepare and deliver a presentation on someone who had made a significant contribution to society. Sam had decided that everyone would talk about Winston Churchill and people like that so he chose someone less obvious. His first idea was Hugh Hefner, I had never heard of him, but Sam patiently explained that he was the creator of the Playboy empire. I asked what he had done for society and with an almost straight face Sam said that he must have made a lot of men very happy! I couldn't help wondering about the women, but It wasn't appropriate to address that question at the time.

Sam went on to explain that his friend decided to talk about Hugh Hefner so he chose Quentin Tarantino. That was another person I had never heard of, I ventured a guess that he may be a ballet dancer, but Sam assured me that he was an actor and film director, I guess that explains it, I can't sit still long enough to watch a film. Sam assured me that his films were too grim for me anyway, but he said Robbie would know all about him. It is nice to know that my son is capable of original thought, but when there was a world full of people to chose from I can't imagine why he seriously believes that those two people made a significant contribution to society! You may be wondering what the Grinch has to do with all this, well he cropped up at the end of the conversation. Sam said that he regretted his choice and he wished he had chosen Dr Seuss because then he could have done the presentation in rhyme. I wonder who I would have chosen!

Family Ties 13.03.08

I got fed up with all the commentary on the budget yesterday, I didn't expect anything good to come out of it, so he managed to live up to my (very low) expectations. I don't suppose it is Alistair Darling's fault that he looks like the Grinch, but it doesn't exactly inspire confidence!

It is the funeral for Robbie's uncle today, so Robbie will go to work as usual and then head for Norton Canes just before 11am. He couldn't find his black tie among the vast Burgess tie collection, I don't think he looked terribly hard. I said that a black tie was not essential and a dark one with a sober pattern would be OK. He gave me a hard stare and said 'not for a Burgess funeral' and he told me that he would buy a black one. I don't suppose Robbie possesses a sober tie anyway, his taste is veers more towards the loud and lurid.