Beached
Good ‘old Torbay beach huts, at least they’re going on a first come first served basis, not the tendering system in Teignbridge, which has seen (so we’re told) beach huts going for £1,000!
May 31st, 2006
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Archive for May, 2006
Frame academy
‘Summer in the city where the air is clear, a baby being born to the overkill’.
Ah, they quite literally don’t write them like that anymore.
Except for Roddy Frame (of Aztec Camera ‘fame’) who probably does write them like that anymore - it’s just we don’t get to hear them on the radio anymore. If you see what we mean.
So huzzah for the Exeter Phoenix which is hosting a live show by Rowdy Roddy (as no-one calls him) on June 7.
He’s described in the bumf as ‘an engaging live performer with deeply personal songs’, so expect all the hits like Somewhere In My Heart and um, don’t tell us, it’s on the tip of our tongue… no, it’s gone.
Clearly we need some help with this so let’s dig out his ‘biog’ on Wikipedia.
‘Born January 29, 1964 in East Kilbride…’
On second thoughts, let’s skip it, shall we? It’s faaaar too dull. Should be a good show though.
Find out more on www.exeterphoenix.org.uk
Y’know, if you want to.
Posted by Thin White Duke
May 30th, 2006
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Scope for improvement
Thinking of dumping your old mobile phone and trading it in for one of those ones which can play the theme from Knight Rider really loudly?
If so, disability charity Scope needs YOU to help out with their sexy mobile phone and printer cartridge recycling appeal.
They’ve been doing ‘the math’ and reckon there are some 90 million old mobiles just lying around gathering dust in drawers and cupboards across the UK.
So they’re asking members of the public (and indeed, members of the People’s Republic) to hand in any old phones to their friendly neighbourhood Scope shop.
They’ll then magically turn these chunky old handsets and used printer cartridges into cash which will enable the charity to continue in their quest to achieve equality for disabled people.
Oh, and supporting the appeal is also an easy way to, like, totally save the planet by diverting unnecessary waste from landfill.
Mobile phones and printer cartridges are famously fulla toxic soup which can leak into the soil surrounding landfill sites, damaging plants and turning turtles into masked crime-fighting vigilantes.
But hey, you knew that already, didn’t you?
Find out more details by logging on to www.recyclingappeal.com/scope
Cowabunga!
Posted by Thin White Duke
May 29th, 2006
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Mental blockage
Road Block! (Shout it loud, shout it proud) is the latest organisation to jump on the anti Kingskerswell bypass bandwagon.
What the? You say. I thought the bypass was built 30 years ago, you say. You’d be right, too. But apparently it didn’t go far enough and there are plans for another (without a bus lane, because that would cost too much, etc, etc).
With one lane leading into the Bay area, businesses say they need more accessibility. And with the planned proliferation of casinos, that seems to be the case.
Pah! Says Road Block, and you can’t help thinking they are exactly right, and that’s even before reading all the blurb.
Posted by Cptn
May 28th, 2006
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Rising stars
Youth, they say is wasted on the young. Aha, we cry, what about young Spielberg, young Eisenstein, or Young Frankenstein! (Ok, maybe not the last one.)
To make sure no-one’s youth need be wasted on frivolous pursuits or pesky GSCEs (they-were-so-much-harder-in-my-day-you-mark-my-words-young-whipper-snapper), the Creative Collective at the Exeter Phoenix Media Centre has created a youth wing.
Aimed at those 25 or younger and keen to get into collaborative film making (is there any other?), the Creative Collective Youth has secured funding for some various projects. Have your say! Go along to its first open meeting on Saturday, June 3, at 2pm at the Exeter Phoenix Media Centre. And start making movies… about all those kids who waste their youth (or am I the only one who’s seen Taxi Driver?)
Posted by Cptn
May 27th, 2006
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Flap your hands say yeah
Anyone who’s seen Jason Patric in Speed 2 knows that being able to do sign language is A Very Good Thing Indeed and a top way of impressing ver laydeez.
That’s why RNID, the charity representing the nine million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, is encouraging citizens of the People’s Republic to learn British Sign Language.
They’re offering a one-, two- or three-day Start To Sign course, where a deaf trainer (or a plimsoll with an ear trumpet, arf!) will come and wiggle their fingers a bit at groups of up to 12 people.
If organising that sounds too much like hard work, you can also order a RNID Start To Sign pack, which boasts a lovely book and a CD.
The tome contains photographs of more than 1,000 everyday signs and information about BSL and its grammar, while the CD contains video clips and an animated fingerspelling programme.
Heck, you can even test your progress with one of the new-fangled interactive quizzes. What japes.
But if all else fails, you could probably just use the CD to reflect sunlight and communicate using Morse Code. The possibilities are literally endless.
To find out more, move your hands in the general direction of Royal National Institute of the Deaf.
Then you too could be wooing Sandra Bullock on a boat run by terrorists. Pretty good, huh?
Posted by Thin White Duke
May 26th, 2006
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Credit where it’s due
In an attempt to combat poverty, a credit union is to be established in South Devon.
The Teign Reach Credit Union, due to open next year, will offer accessible and affordble loans as well as other financial services to its members.
The group is also calling for volunteers, and skills in fundraising, marketing and publicity, business planning, management banking, and accountancy, book keeping, and business planning are called for. Training will also be provided.
For more information, or to put your name down, get in touch with Gary Powell on .
May 25th, 2006
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Gulls allowed
You often hear mad old fools frothing on about “stringing ‘em up” but it’s not usually about seagulls going about their seagulling business.
Of course, we’re referring to Dr Brian Boughton, who was sentenced to a year’s conditional discharge after being found guilty of shooting one of our feathered friends.
Boughton, who coincidently is also the secretary of Dartmouth Action Group Against Seagulls, apparently killed the gull and hung it from a tree in the belief it would give other gulls the willies and keep them away from his property.
Dr Boughton explained that seagull poo is packed with horrible germs and he was worried for the health of himself and his family - including his daughter,’ever-popular’ Radio 1 DJ, Emma B.
While we desperately try to erase the mental image of Emma B stood in her father’s garden covered in bird doo-dah, we remember some better ways to stick it to seagulls - courtesy of our old school chum Dean. Shooting their beaks off and hanging them from trees was, funnily enough, never mentioned.
So, it’s Seagulls 1 - Mankind - 0. For now…
Posted by Thin White Duke
May 25th, 2006
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Bin there, not done it
We all love recycling (hey, I got this story from thisisexeter.co.uk), but being prosecuted for not doing it seems a little extreme.
Donna Challice from Wonford, Exeter, is facing six charges of putting the wrong rubbish in her dustbin - non-recyclable waste in the green bin.
Then again, the foolishness of people not demonstrating responsible behaviour is forcing the authorities to take control. (No-smoking policies in buildings are treated with scathing derision. ‘I’m not bothered about killing myself, it’s not killing you I object to,’ cough the die-hard smokers as they skuttle away from the non-smoking zones).
But then, says Donna, prove that I did it (ie put the wrong rubbish in the right bin). The trial continues, and we await the verdict with baited breath. Meanwhile, the barbed wired goes around my thoroughly checked recycling bins.
Maybe next someone will take the council to court for not recycling when it said it would. . .
Posted by Cptn
May 24th, 2006
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Puffed up
Hooray for the Express & Echo which is determined to ‘do something’ about teen smoking - despite all their hacks regularly puffing away like retired colonels (possibly).
Its front page on Saturday told the sorry tale of a schoolgirl from Exeter who admitted smoking up to 40 cigarettes a day.
The rag also revealed staggering new figures that around 10 per cent of 11- to 15-year-olds in Exeter are smokers. Yes, that’s 10 per cent. Of every 11- to 15-year-old. Well knock us down with a very big feather.
Of course, PRSD readers might, if anything, expect the figures to be understating the true number of young smokers.
They might also think that a 40 a day habit is pretty good going for someone who spends eight hours a day in school (are they letting kids light up in RE or something?).
However the issue has provoked apoplexy on www.thisisexeter.co.uk.
“It is absolutely diabolical,” snorts Anne-Marie, from Newton Abbot.
“Don’t these children know the side effects of smoking? Are the schools teaching them this?”
Luckily, the mysteriously named Anon, from Exeter, takes a more sympathetic line, advising: “The 15-year-old’s mother should be taken to court by Social Services and the daughter put in care.”
A-ha! We bet ‘Anon’ is a pseudonym for the editor of the Express & Echo. Rumbled!
Posted by Thin White Duke
May 23rd, 2006
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