Peak Socks !

I exhausted myself with de-cluttering for most of 2018.    In fact the tide of clutter seems to have come back in.   😹☹️😫😩

If you have read my earlier blogs on this subject (you can find them by clicking on “Clutter” in the TAG CLOUD) , you will know I was very proud of my sock drawer.   It is only a small thing in a small drawer, but in it I had reached a good standard of tidiness.  A small but significant symbol of what could be achieved 😇

Sadly over the last year somehow the socks have crept up on me again. I believe I am now back to peak socks ! * 

It leads to indecision in your half-asleep early mornings, dithering over which socks to put on.   The thick ones or the thin ones.   The black ones or the fawn ones or even the green ones if I can find them.     Maybe I will wear the ones I had on yesterday ?    Wasting at least 5 minutes of every day over socks that most people don’t see anyway.

But that’s just socks, you can repeat this story about trousers and shirts and jumpers and shoes and jackets.   It can take half an hour of every day to achieve a level of sartorial elegance.  Then when I finally emerge my wife will say “You are not going out in that are you?”

* I wrote a blog about the theory of “Peak Stuff” earlier this year.  Essentially it is saying that as a society many people have now acquired more than enough things to meet their needs and as a result the overall economy might slow down.  Obviously I’ve got more than enough socks, shirts and ties etc, and by this theory I may never need to buy any more ever.  If you do buy more, “Peak Stuff ” rolls over into clutter.  In turn, as you still acquire more things, clutter reaches a stage of “Peak Clutter”.

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LLLP Tidy Up Teddy Manifesto


BREXIT obviously isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up for the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.  Everyone seems to be saying that we should have a softer BREXIT, so the LLLP has come up with a master stroke of enlisting the help of Teddies.    This is based on the idea that a group of Teddy Bears are likely to be just as effective as a whole parliament of European MPs.   The next contribution from a GrumbleSmiles character – Tidy Up Teddy.

To start with, Tidy Up Teddy would give all the European MPs a hug and tell them to stop arguing with each other.

Next Tidy Up Teddy would suggest that they scrap all their regulations and start again after Britain has exited.    That way they can have as many regulations as they like in future but none of them will apply to the UK.

Tidy Up Teddy would suggest that there are no cuddly toy regulations so that Teddies can do what they like, when they like.    They also suggest that the Europeans should be much kinder to animals and stop eating horses.

Finally, Tidy Up Teddy suggests, that there should be an annual European Convention for cuddly toys.   This should be set up on an all expenses paid basis with funds provided by the European Commission to celebrate the final exit of Britain from the European experiment.

Oh and one more thing, on behalf of the Steiff Teddies that come from Germany, Tidy Up Teddy wants to say “will you stop pinning labels in our ears”.

Tidy Up Teddy says :-

“Votes for Teddies make happy people”

 

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TTONRO

I have discovered part of the problem of my cluttering disease.   It’s a affliction called – TTONRO – The Theory Of Never Running Out.

It starts at an early age.  It’s why you always have to have three pairs of pyjamas.   One to wear, one for the wash and one for best, in case you have to go into hospital in a rush.

It is the direct opposite to the Japanese theory of just in time – TTOJIT.    That has you living on the edge, ever in fear of running out.

The path in between the two approaches is what leads to excess.  It explains a lot.   It is why you have cupboards.  Cupboards are to store all the things you don’t need right now.   Most of the time you don’t need many things, hence all the cupboards!

But there is a problem with cupboards.  When they are not full you need more stuff, just in case you run out of anything.   And when they are full, you need more  cupboards.

That’s  TTONRO for you.    Funny the little thoughts you wake up with sometimes😀

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LLLP Coco Manifesto

BREXIT obviously isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up for the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.   This is the next contribution from a GrumbleSmiles character – Coco.

Coco is hoping to be the first dog to be elected to the European Parliament.

She thinks that the European MPs are barking mad and that doggie issues are under-represented in the European Parliament.    She will campaign for better dog food and more treats.   Also dogs should be included in the European Freedom of Movement Regulations.  They should be allowed to travel freely anywhere in Europe, on trains, planes and boats.

And go into restaurants and pubs everywhere, and get  biscuits.   And not be made to sit under tables.

And go into art galleries where there should be more dogs featured in artworks.    And go to cinemas and see more leading roles for dogs  – what ever happened to Lassie 2, Lassie 3 and  Lassie 4 ?

Coco says :-

“Equal rights for dogs !”

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LLLP Pilly and Astroglax Manifesto

BREXIT still, obviously, definitely isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up for the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.   This is the next contribution from GrumbleSmiles character – Pilly and Astroglax.

Pilly and her GP Astroglax are standing on a joint ticket for the European Parliamentary elections.    It will be the first time a couple have been elected to European Parliament but they figured they could get twice as many expenses that way.   Their expertise is “Pills” and they will campaign for people in Britain to take less pills and people in Europe to take more pills.

Pilly says :-

“A pill a day to make Europe go away”

 

 

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LLLP Red Tape Crusader

BREXIT definitely isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up for the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.   This is the next contribution from a GrumbleSmiles character – Red Tape Crusader.

Everyone knows that the whole European Parliamentary venture is wrapped in kilometres of red tape.   The Red Tape Crusader is determined to free Britain from all of that.   His first campaign in the European Parliament will be to make sure that everything in future is done online.   This should save a European mountain of paperwork.

All new European legislation will be published on Twitter and only allowed to be 140 characters.    Each member of the European Parliament will be allowed one Tweet a year and then only if it is approved by all 27 other members.

Every European Parliamentary country will have a veto on any proposed Tweet which changes any new regulation.   That should slow the red tape down quite a bit.

Meanwhile the Red Tape Crusader will arbitrarily cut out huge swathes of European Regulation which many European countries take no notice of anyway.

Red Tape Man says :-

“No more European regulation”

 

 

 

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LLLP Package Eater Manifesto

BREXIT still isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up for the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.   This is the next contribution from a GrumbleSmiles character – Package Eater.

Package Eater is a ferocious campaigner against excess packaging.   Therefore he will insist that all lorries coming from Europe to the UK must be inspected at the border.   Any excess packaging must be thrown away before the lorries are allowed to enter the UK, which means that European rubbish tips will need to be established at all European ports and airports.

A recent investigation carried out by the LLLP found that most goods sent to the UK from Europe have been in transit for at least 3 months in hot temperatures which is why they have to be tripple wrapped in plastic.    Some of the flowers sent from Holland we’re grown four years ago and have been in refrigerated trucks awaiting a group of refugee asylum seekers.    The final insult was when the  LLLP exposed a wine scam where cheap plonk from Chile was imported to France and then relabelled as vintage Chateaunuef de Pap for sale in the UK .  All with Conman Agricultural Subsidy paid for by the British Government contribution to Europe.

Thankfully none of this is fake news and you can totally trust LLLP politicians 🤡

Since the LLLP adopted Sir David Attenborough as its Honorary European President of Packaging, it is particularly important in the Manifesto to ensure that no plastic ever enters the UK from Europe.

Package Eater says :-

“European plastic’s not fantastic”

 

 

 

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LLLP Clean Up Manifesto

BREXIT obviously isn’t going to happen very quickly, so the Last Laugh Looney Party is gearing up to stand in the European Parliamentary Elections by preparing its Manifesto.   This is the first contribution from a GrumbleSmiles candidate – Clean Up Man.

Clean Up Man will do exactly what it says on the box.   He will set about cleaning up everything in Europe.   He knows it’s a big job, but he is planning to organise a fleet of drones to fly all over the 27 European countries spraying them with lavender air freshener to help everybody calm down.   This should also be a big boost to lavender farmers throughout Norfolk, where Clean Up Man is hoping to be elected as their Euro MP.

The second flight of the drone Brexiteer squadron will send over a less pleasant surprise.    The smell of fish and chips will be sniffed throughout Europe to remind them all that it our fish and they should stop stealing them.

Finally in the battle for Britain the squadron will fly over all the European capitals towing Union Jacks and endlessly playing “God save the Queen” until they all give up say we can leave immediately.    At that point the LLLP will demand that the European Commission pays us £39 billion as a divorce settlement  😀😀😀😀

Clean Up Man says :-

“We need a European clean break”

If you don’t clean yourselves up, we will send Mr Dyson over to Europe with all his vacuum cleaners and he will sort you out because we know what a keen BREXITEER Mr Dyson is.     Although sadly he is now moving his operation to Singapore.

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LLLP ELECTION CANDIDATES

BREXIT is obviously reaching a critical point.  The March 29th deadline has come and gone without a resolution.    Now we have a new deadline of April 12th or maybe and or maybe not June 22nd ….. or perhaps an extension to two or three years time.

Whichever one it is, it seems we will have to elect new members to the European Parliament.    So the Last Laugh Looney Party is putting forward a few key candidates to hopefully shake up and clean up the European Parliament :-

JACK-IN-A-BOX will be the LLLP leader in the European Parliament and he will just keep jumping up and down and repeatedly shouting out a few key political slogans like :-

“We are leaving”

”We want our borders back”

”You’re not having our fish”

”You can shove you European Court of Injustice up your derrière“

“And we are not paying a penny, nothing at all.   Sue us if you like, see if we care !”

“Nah na nan nah nah“

”My bat, my ball we are going home“

There will, no doubt, be other choice phrases that will come up during the European election campaign.   Several LLLP Candidates have already stepped forward and have begun to write their contributions to the LLLP European Manifesto which will be published in this blog in the weeks ahead.   The Rogues Gallery is pictured below :-

We are very confident that every one of our candidates will be elected to the European Parliament :-

Clean-Up Man; Package Eater; Red Tape Crusader; Pilly and Astroglax; Coco; Tidy Up Teddy and Cider Drinker.

Watch out for their LLLP Manifesto contributions in the next few weeks.

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Under Pressure ?

The Government is under pressure at the moment and so it seems are a very large number of the population.   Blood pressure that is.    On Friday 8th March,  The Times, published two articles about the subject.     I guess it must be all down to ongoing frustrations with the Brexit debate !   You can imagine all those MPs must be suffering from high blood pressure.

The first was a report from NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the promotion of pills for everything.   They are concerned that as many as 450,000 men and 270,000 women should be taking pills to lower their blood pressure, according to recently revised guidelines.    They estimate only half of this group are taking medication, which could lead to many more heart attacks and strokes.   My Pilly Galore character, with the help of her friendly GP Astroglax, will be delighted with this news.   The more pills the better is her motto.

Next, lo and behold in the same paper on the same day is another way of reducing your blood pressure.     The second article was a less expensive answer to the problem.   Have a short nap in the afternoon.     A “siesta” is not exactly a new idea and Pilly Galore has been practicing it every day after and sometimes during the lunchtime TV news.    Greek doctors studied 212 people who were being treated for high blood pressure and found that those who snooze during the day had 4% lower blood pressure.

Now to help further you could also follow earlier research evidence that suggests :-

  • reducing your salt intake
  • and lowering you alcohol consumption
  • and  drinking celery juice …. and hibiscus tea … and beetroot juice
  • and loosing weight …. and exercising more
  • and cutting back on coffee  ….. and eating more bananas
  • and finding even more ideas on Google.

Preferably you should do all of these, in this exact same order, every day !

They can all lower your hypertension.

Well then you may end up with absolutely :-

                      

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