MT Comment & Humour How hard can it be to buy face cream!
By Tony Simpson - 21/11/2011
More Stories
It's raining cats and dogs!
Test your knowledge of the English language with Mature Times writer Catherine McFarland. This month we explore the origins of a well-known phrase, “Raining Cats and Dogs”.
‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ is one phrase in the English language with which we’re all too familiar. It’s a bit of an odd metaphor, though, don’t you think? If you take it literally, there is potential for some quite serious pain, and I can’t imagine it would do the camellias any good.
What goes around comes around!
I’m sure that many of our readers have done the family thing. You know what I mean: firstly, you are a child, happily living with your mummy and daddy, then adolescence and puberty interfere with the status quo and you become extremely interested in sex.
You’re single, fancy free, and play the field, then meet the love of your life, leave your mum and dad and get married or paired-up, leave your birth home and move out to your own house/flat/bedsit/cave.
Use it or lose it!
The secret to an agile body and mind? Simply get your skates on!
When she was seven, Jocelyn Taylor borrowed her sister’s roller skates to practise moves in the cellar of the family home.
It was the moment that transformed her life - for nearly eight decades later, she still puts her skates on every day.
An indomitable spirit
What images of the catastrophe in Japan will be most remembered down the years?
Buildings wobbling like jelly as the earthquake struck? The carnage wreaked by the tsunami? The explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plants? Without doubt, this footage will be shown for decades to come as a reminder that we are, and always will be, at the mercy of forces far beyond our control.
New Zealand earthquake: a lesson in courage for us all
.jpg)
One day last month I was sitting quietly in the Cathedral in Christchurch.
This lovely structure, built over 100 years ago, was packed with visitors.
Hundreds of tourists crammed the building to see the flowers being displayed during a festival week. Many climbed the tower for a unique view of the city and afterwards called in at the Cathedral Tea Shop.
Do you think you're funny? The search is on for wales' funniest over 50's.
TWO WELSH festivals are joining forces to find the country’s funniest over 50s.
The Gwanwyn Festival from Age Cymru and the Cardiff Comedy Festival are offering Wales’ wittiest older comedians a chance to take part in a stand-up workshop.
Side-splitting seniors who shine at the workshop will also perform at a comedy showcase gig in May as part of the Gwanwyn Festival.
Gwanwyn Coordinator Phil Thomas explains:
“Everyone knows an older person who is funny – maybe it’s your husband, your wife, your mother, father, uncle or aunt – it could be your neighbour or someone else in your local community.
Man's inhumanity to animals
For as long as I can remember we have had a dog in the family. As a boy I was an avid reader of the Romany books. Romany was the first BBC naturalist and his favourite walking companion was a spaniel named Raq.
Not surprisingly we chose a Springer Spaniel as one of our first dogs and of
course gave him the name that was so familiar to me as a child. Raq has been dead many a year and today we have two more Springers, Holly and Blossom.
"Stop banker-bashing," says man who makes their hand-made suits
If you are one of the (quite possibly) small minority of people who feel that bankers are getting an unfair press at the moment, succour and support is at hand.
Age cannot wither her
Over the last few years, a succession of TV presenters and journalists (almost all women, it has to be said) have been shown the exit door by TV stations, or shunted off to afternoon telly where (presumably) their wrinkles and greying hair will not cause quite so much offence. Tony Watts asks, do YOU want to see more older faces on the box?
Connecting people the key to community
One of the casualties of the ‘modern way of life’ is our social cohesion. In particular, millions of older people in this country have become disconnected from their local communities. Where once families all lived near to each other, and neighbours would always keep a weather eye open for each other, too many of us have now become focussed on our own lives.
But it needn’t be that way - and one pilot project in Bristol designed to break down the barriers between us has been proving just what can be done.
Faith: let's get back to basics
"If I can now stick my head out further and run the risk of upsetting Anglicans by saying what a mish-mash many Anglican Services have become." Terry Waite gives his take on why, when it comes to religion, rituals - and amateur guitar playing - can too often get in the way.
Healthy mind in a healthy body
Keeping the old grey matter working is just as important as keeping fit, says Terry Waite. So how do YOU keep both in working order?
Making retirement redundant
Good news! Retirement will be made redundant when the Government plans to abolish the default retirement age of 65 next year.
Older workers will no longer go through the farce of being capable and willing to work aged 64 and 365 days to find that just one extra day changes their prospects and aspirations for the rest of their increasingly long lives, plunging many into unwanted economic inactivity.
Raise a smile - with the best ever insults
Why is it that insults can make for the very best humour. For instance, the exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor: She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison." To which he replied: "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."
