What did Mozart really look like? I was only set to wondering because I have seen at least six pictures of him not one of which looks like any other. Does it really matter? I suppose not as long as we have his music to enjoy but I still can’t help wondering.
Going through my e-mails and getting rid of as many of the 3750 items in my in-box as being no longer wanted, I came across one sent me a long while back all about the “Stella Awards”. These fictitious laurels are for the stupidest gigantic pay-outs in American legal history when juries award plaintiffs huge amounts of damages when it is too painfully obvious their cases should never even have been allowed to come to court. For example the woman who sued a furniture store because she tripped over a toddler when the said toddler was her own child. The woman who drove with a cup of MacDonald’s coffee between her legs and when it spilled sued MacDonald’s and got away with a whole heap of money in damages. A woman who sued a bar because she slipped on a spilled drink, forgetting the fact that the spillage was caused only a few moments before when she threw her glass at her boy friend during a quarrel. The woman who sued Winnebago because she put her vehicle on automatic and went back to make herself a cup of coffee. She said she didn’t know any better because she wasn’t warned in the instruction manual that automatic didn’t mean the car drove itself. Winnebago, would you believe, in order never to be sued again, actually then included this warning in the manual? The man who sued his neighbour for running over his fingers when moving his car, neglecting the fact that he was stealing his neighbour’s hub caps at the time. And, as Jiminy Cricket would say, there’s more. Unfortunately this American compensation culture spilled over and the Brits are now so scared of anything that could conceivably lead to a law suit have gone overboard in trying to protect themselves, especially town councils who have brought in all sorts of by-laws in order to prevent any possible accident. Because of the Health and Safety fascists, I think living in the UK must now be as restrictive as it will ever get. Famous last words? I still can’t believe that in “Peter Pan” the kids have to wear crash helmets when flying! Surely that is a joke.
So it looks like the Poms will bang the Assies well and truly and regain The Ashes, that is unless they mess it all up on the last day, something they have a tendency to do, even though the Ausies have a mountain to climb. For those unaware of what I am talking about – cricket!