This evening (after the earlier fire alarm troubles) I went to my DVD cupboard and dug out The Ghost and the Darkness – an excellent film, which I haven’t watched properly for almost 10 years.
For those who haven’t seen the movie, it is basically about two lions who decide they prefer the taste of human meat to zebra, and start feasting upon a group of locals who have been employed to build a railway. Val Kilmer, an Irishman (yes, he’s very Celtic) is leading the build, but has to take his attentions away from the construction in order to shoot the pussy-cats; with some predictably bloody results.
Amazingly the film is based on a true story, where hundreds poor Kenyan workers were attacked by a pair of lions in the late 1800’s. The exact reason for the real attacks is unknown, but it is believed to be linked to the beasts developing a taste for human meat, due to consuming poorly buried bodies of dead rail-workers. There is also some evidence to suggest the pair of rogue lions had weak teeth, and were unable to hunt wild animals, so went for the easier option of humans.
The whole story fascinates me (mainly because I like blog and gore). The bodies of the lions can be seen at The Field Museum in Chicago. Here’s a few photos of them I found.
Oh my God! The last two hours have been hell! The fire alarm system in my flat developed a fault, causing a siren which sounded like it was the end of the world, to be emitted throughout the whole block of flats.
I reset the system, only for it to start wailing again moments later. After much swearing, praying and crying, I gave up and called my landlord. No answer. I called the local fire department. No answer. I called another fire department. They answered. I was relived that they actually gave a damn, and even questioned why I didn’t dial 999. I explained it wasn’t an emergency and I didn’t want to waste their time, but they said it would have been OK (interesting to know – next time I see a spider in my flat, I know who to call).
Shortly after making the call, a fire engine pulled up outside, equipped with flashing blue lights. In stormed five burley fire officers. They were just as confused as I was about the problem, and despite ripping apart a fire sensor in the bedroom, were unable to fix the fault. One of the officers did make me laugh when he suggested I visit the “hottie upstairs” who was throwing an all-female party. I must admit, I was extremely tempted.
After further ringing and texting, my landlord eventually answered, and after more swearing, praying and crying, she came round and disabled the alarm. My neighbour questioned the legality of deactivating such a system, but was told that they are not obliged to provide a fire alarm service – something I somewhat disagree with. Anyway, all is now silent (despite a constant ringing in my ears). The alarm won’t be fixed until Monday, so if you are an arsonist, please don’t burn my flat until next week. Thank you.
Tonight was a quiz night at Twerton Park. I joined a group of Bath City-going regulars to form a deadly alliance in knowledge.
The questions ranged from “Who was Christmas No.1 in 2006?” to “What does the chemical symbol ‘AS’ represent?”. My team of five actually got those two questions right, however finished something like 6 out of 10 in the overall rankings. Still, we probably had the lowest combined age as a team (with me being the youngest), so if it is true that ‘age = knowledge’, we were at somewhat of a disadvantage.
Along with the quiz, there was a raffle, where I won a crossword jigsaw (basically a quiz page of The Sun newspaper which had been put in the food blender) and a bottle of wine. I don’t normally drink the stuff, but my friend Simon who is a wine connoisseur (or wino) informs me that Liebfraumilch is a rather good brand; although going by what was said at the quiz and a quick search on Wikipedia, it sounds like piss.
Just because England are not in the European Championship next summer, it doesn’t mean I can’t support a team competing. Therefore, I have made a draw on which team I will support. Here’s how it happened…
Firstly, write the names of every competing team on pieces of paper
Screw these pieces of paper into tiny balls
Ask my hamster, Dennis Wise, to make the draw
To encourage him to collect a bit of paper, I put a little bit of margarine and sugar on each piece
He finally picks a team
To stop him eating the sugary-fat coated paper, and getting a horrible combination of diabetes, high-cholesterol and ink poisoning, I quickly took the scrawn-up team off him
Great choice, Dennis… I think not
Following England’s defeat last night, Watkins sent me this text:
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…..
Sums it up really.
About Me
So you stumbled across my blog. No doubt after searching for something bizarre on Google. Before you hit that 'Back Button', why not stay and have a read for a few minutes?
If you are after a website which gives advice on how to hack an iPhone X, download the latest Steven Seagal movie, or view nudy ladies, you've come to the wrong place and may now press 'Back'.
However, if you would like a lifestyle blog, written by a 30-something chap, living in Bath (England), feast your eyes on this.
You won't discover how to copy PlayStation 4 games. What you will find is a blog, covering life in the West Country, the highs and lows of supporting two unsuccessful football teams, while sharing a house with a wife and rabbit.
All written by a man, somewhere on the sanity-scale between normal and eccentric.
