The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

PasturesNew

Still piddling about, slowly, not achieving much if you measured it, but plodding on.

Got the clothes off the rail and into bags that won't seal.... but at least that meant I could get the rail dismantled.... but the rail now needs "a container/strapping" to keep it all together.... then it'll need "a spot to stick it out of sight".

I'd taken one item upstairs when I was clearing this room, but this room's almost empty now and there was "a big blank bit", so I brought that item downstairs again as it was "in the way up there".

2 small cardboard boxes got tossed into the recycling .... and, er .... I think that's it really. So ... it doesn't look like much has gone on, but at least something did.

All of this is really just "painting avoidance" plans

The thing is, I'm not "packing to move imminently", just "packing stuff tidily and out of sight, yet logically, so I can find it again if I need to as it's pre-sorted/organised, so it doesn't look like a hoarder's house when an agent takes photos and shows people round (if anybody comes)".

LydiaJ

PasturesNew wrote: »

That just says:

And here's where we smashed your butt ... so don't forget it ... else you'll get the same as you did back then ... now back in your box losers

Is there a soundtrack? Is it ... "... two world wars and one world cup, doo-dah, doo-dah...."

Nah. I think it's a genuine mistake. I think she's trotting out the standard excuse for why it doesn't matter if they're rude to the French or us, or the Aussies etc, because "the relationship is so strong and look what we went through together" and thinks that all Western European countries are pretty much the same.

The thing is, the argument would hold if she just looked ever so slightly less far back into history. The 1948-9 Berlin airlift would be a great example to quote in that sort of context.

ivyleaf

We were in the bank one day and OH got talking to an older chap (It started with the older chap commenting that OH looked very young to be using a walking stick, and asked what had happened to him) - anyway, it turned out he had been involved in the Berlin airlift! We were excited and felt privileged to meet him.

Chris Sorry to disappoint you

Pastures Of course, the trouble with sorting is that it always looks worse before it looks better! It WILL look better though.

Sue Well done Joe :T

I'm going to visit my sister-in-law tomorrow. I've just been packing my little suitcase (well, it's "medium" according to the lady in the shop), which would have been rather easier if I hadn't wanted to take my sunhat. I'm very stressed atm as it's many years since I travelled alone, though OH will take me to the airport and help me with the Bag Drop. It would be fine if I could just teleport on board the aeroplane, it's the hassle at the airport I hate and I know I'm not the only one! I'm having wheelchair assistance, which is a big help when your blood pressure tends to zoom to the floor when standing in a long queue, but I hate the fact that I need it when I look fine. I know I should just be grateful that it's there

michaels

LydiaJ wrote: »

Just when you think it can't get any more absurd...
Link

Weren't the majority of Germans just as relieved to be liberated from the Nazis as the rest of Europe?

LydiaJ

michaels wrote: »

Weren't the majority of Germans just as relieved to be liberated from the Nazis as the rest of Europe?

I'm sure some of them were and others weren't. Whether or not it was a majority I'm afraid I don't know. I think quite a lot of them didn't really see clearly what Nazism had been like until it was over. I doubt that many humans really see the sins of their own side clearly when they're in the middle of a war and "they" are killing "our" fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, and bombing "our" cities, whoever "them" and "us" are. To cite the Normandy landings as evidence of the good relationship between the US and the government of Germany at the time would be stretching a point too far, though, and it was the German government that she referred to in her speech.

Richard Collier's excellent book about the airlift, Bridge across the sky has a fascinating account of the gradual change of perspective of the allied commanders in charge of occupying Berlin. The book begins several months before the blockade. The British, Americans and French have all arrived in Berlin with a 1945 attitude, perceiving the Russians as their allies and the Germans as the enemy. By the time the airlift begins, they've more or less changed their minds, but it doesn't happen overnight, and their attitudes continue changing as the airlift progresses - for example when they realise that the only way they can keep all the planes adequately maintained is if they employ skilled German mechanics, so they abolish the rule about Germans only being allowed to be employed by the occupying powers in menial rather than skilled tasks. Meanwhile, the Germans, too, are gradually changing their view of their occupiers, from seeing them as former enemies that they have to manage to get along with, to realising that they're all on the same side against the Russians. There's a touching anecdote where the Americans find that some Germans have put some forget-me-nots in an old grapefruit tin at the crash site of one of the US planes, with a picture frame and an epitaph that ends "Once we were enemies, yet you now gave your lives for us."

GDB2222

Police officer piggybacks man across busy road http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44395931

Something on the news, for once, that doesn't involve a disaster.

SingleSue

Josh's latest cover....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc13yAH9vnA Ed Sheeran, I see Fire

Doozergirl

That's beautiful, Sue

vivatifosi

LydiaJ wrote: »

Nah. I think it's a genuine mistake. I think she's trotting out the standard excuse for why it doesn't matter if they're rude to the French or us, or the Aussies etc, because "the relationship is so strong and look what we went through together" and thinks that all Western European countries are pretty much the same.

The thing is, the argument would hold if she just looked ever so slightly less far back into history. The 1948-9 Berlin airlift would be a great example to quote in that sort of context.

I'm watching the breakfast news. The commentator said that Theresa May was on her way to the G7 meeting in Canada, "or should that be G6 plus Donald Trump".

I can't recall a time in my life when the US has been so distant from its allies. Not understanding context or history must be at least partly responsible for that.

PasturesNew

I can't watch the news, telly's been on the blink again since last night. Red standby light's on this time, but the remote doesn't persuade it to turn on

I don't mind... I think having less telly available has been one of the things that's enabled me to plod on with housey things as I don't get sucked into watching some dire programme or other... because it's easier to find/watch something rubbish than to pick up a sanding sheet and get started with painting etc.