What fun it is to have nothing!

[747]

Let me say that I am irked by Lord Raindrop but I am not angry with him personally. He sounds a bit eccentric, which comes with age and if he was a bit eccentric to start with then that might make it worse.

 

I totally disagree on his reasoning about generalising charities, especially as his original post was flippant. I said in my earlier post that I had spent time in poverty stricken countries. I have seen some terrible things and I no longer believe in the saying that `life is cheap`. It has no value whatsoever in some places.

 

If anyone has seen the movie "Blood Diamonds" then they will have seen a fairly representative picture of real life for many thousands of people. For once Hollywood understated the position in fact.

 

These people starve in a country with the richest soil in the world. They die of Malaria because there is no infrastructure to help them. They will kill you for your clothes or cigarettes (I do not blame them for that).

 

Unless you have been in their position, you cannot possibly know what it feels like. I never speak of the things I have seen, what is the point? but it is happening every day.

 

How is your day going? It will have been fine yesterday and will be fine tomorrow. That in itself is a great luxury.

[Rayjsj]

Having nothing is only fun if you have 'had it all' and decided to give it all up. If you have never had much anyway 'thinking of your position as 'FUN' never enters your head !! you are too busy wondering where the next meal is coming from.

Enough naval gazing ! I thought this forum was about Motorhomes ?

Now ! Downsizing is another matter ! Ray B-)

[bob b]

I'll admit to not having much time for the major charities.

 A friend of mine used to supply a large, well known charity with office equipment some years ago now. He visited their head office to discuss a supplying a new reception desk.

The brochures detailing detailing the design and spec of the desks were perused and found wanting for whatever reason. They decided on having a shaped reception desk specially made which cost thousands of pounds.

The office chairs were always leather and even standard ink blotters weren't good enough, they had to be leather with gold leaf embossing. He supplied them for some years and they always ordered the most expensive items.

We both agreed that the people out on the street with the collecting tins would be quite shocked to see how some of the donations are spent. 

[Guest JudgeMental]

The people out on the street are doing it for money as well.....you are another one missing the point, looking for excuses.....Thank God most of us are not that negative :-S

[Brian Kirby]

GypsyTom - 2010-03-07 9:28 AM

..........

It's odd that when someone says something with which you may agree, that they are 'speaking their mind' but if others 'speak their mind', as I did above, it's a 'savage outburst of shallow-minded intolerance".

Perhaps you could define the difference between speaking one's mind and being intolerant?

Can I play?  The main difference seems to lie in the way the sentiment is expressed.  "Speaking one's mind" more often seems to be an excuse deployed when something has been clumsily or offensively expressed, and the inevitable storm has blow up.  It is seldom the concept itself that causes the grief.  When the temperature rises, the offender claims to have been just "speaking his/her mind".  Care with phraseology, and carefully reading what one has written before posting, are generally good avoidance techniques but, since we all sin from time to time, apologising before major hostilities break out is probably the best fall back.

Intolerance, on the other hand, seems to me to be a refusal to accept that others have a right to hold, and express, opinions that differ from one's own, no matter how carefully or mildly expressed.  One may argue with them, or with the basis for holding them, but not with the right of the individual to actually hold them, no matter how batty they may be.  Well, within reason, and provided one does not "speak ones mind", of course.  :-)

[GypsyTom]

I'll defend everyone's right to have their own opinion and I'll defend my right to say that their opinion stinks! Hitler had an opinion about the Jews. I think his opinion was wrong and stunk! Am I being intolerant?

[Mel B]

For it to be 'fun' to have nothing, you must have been in the fortunate position to be able to 'choose' to have nothing in the first place. Those who genuinely have nothing, or very little, seldom have the choice and therefore I would strongly suspect are not having 'fun' at having nothing. :-|

 

If you have a choice - about anything - you should count yourself as very lucky indeed. :-S

[Derek Uzzell]

GypsyTom - 2010-03-07 7:08 PM

 

...Am I being intolerant?

 

Dunno, but (based on your comment in the following thread) your GSOH seems to have nose-dived over time:

 

http://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=11522&start=1

 

(I never realised what weighty matters were explored on "Chatterbox" - it's to be hoped that Pinocchio isn't a forum member!)

[J9withdogs]

Errrmmm..thanks, Derek, for bringing that thread back from the dead, I think!

 

Can I just point out that the title of the thread was' Personal insults, just not up to scratch' and it was a bunch of mates having a laugh.

[donna miller]

Well, I just followed derek's link and went backwards to my ' bikini wax' post, I'd forgot about that, nearly peed myself when I re-read it.

For those who can't be bothered, here it is.

 

So Lord Raindrop, this is what women have to go through to get NOTHING, and fun is not a word to describe it.

 

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal - The Epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the wax. Read on.........

 

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix

dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring

painfully in my mind for the next few hours: 'Maybe I should pull the

waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet.'

 

So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom. It was one of

those 'cold wax' kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub

the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them

apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the

hair right off.

 

No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

 

 

 

So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ('Cold wax,' yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works!

 

OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me!

 

 

I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

 

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet.

 

Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (it was a long strip) I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

 

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!

 

Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP! Another deep breath and RIPP! Everything is spinning and spotted.

 

 

 

I think I may pass out...must stay conscious...must stay conscious. Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal.

 

I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip!

 

There's no hair on it.

 

Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX???

 

 

 

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip...it's not! I touch. I am touching wax.

 

I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG

mistake...remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down.

 

 

 

Sealed shut! My butt is sealed shut. Sealed shut!

 

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself 'Please don't let me get the urge to poop.

 

 

 

My head may pop off!' What can I do to melt the wax?

 

Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand, into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right???

 

*WRONG!!!!!!!*

 

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to

torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

 

 

 

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued

together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub....in scalding hot water.

 

 

 

Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

 

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!!

 

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter. 'So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!'

 

There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for

removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me.

 

 

 

She wants to know exactly where the wax is located,'Are we talking cheeks or hole or hoo-ha?'

 

 

 

She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box.

 

YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else's night.

 

 

 

While we go through various solutions. I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor . Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot

water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!! By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

 

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving

grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax.

 

What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and OH

MY GOD!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the

dickens out of my friend. It's sooo painful, but I really don't care.

'IT WORKS!!

 

It works !!' I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she

hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then

notice to my grief and despair....THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......ALL

OF IT! So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing

hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point.

 

Next week I'm going to try hair color......

 

[Caroline]

Wonderful, that was wonderful..........thanks

 

I think it is quite sad that people have to make such comments on forums such as this, it riles others and makes the worse come out in people.

 

I do wonder when people make such strange comments as Lord Raindrop seems to be in the habit of doing, is that he is seeking attention, like a naughty child and perhaps should be treated with a bit more tolerance and understanding, not give in to the naughty child but be diverted. Such as the funny and painful narrative above.

 

[robertandjean]

Sorry are we missing something here? Can not for the life of us see what this has to do with motorhomes. Suggest continue on general chit chat and that Lord Raindrop dries up.

[euroserv]

Could not agree more, but at least the usual backstabbers are out on this thread instead of clogging up a useful one!

 

Having said that, thanks Donna. You made me laugh a lot and for that, today, I am very grateful.

 

Nick

[berti]

well, lord raindrop

we don't think that these people who TRULY have nothing would agree (!) (!)

they were camped on a bit of spare ground in villa real....the tarpaulin /plastic sheeting spread over some tree branches was their only protection from the appalling weather we have been experiencing here on the algarve this winter...

they were the poorest folk we have ever seen...

their flooring was the bare earth.....sodden with the amount of rainfall

all they possessed ( and it wasn't much ) was contained under the sheeting...

being confronted with sights like this makes you stop and count your blessings

 

cheers

berti