In praise of....in praise of (part three)

And so, as I sew my completer/finisher badge on my sleeve, it's time for the acceptance speech thanks to those who came along for the ride, and left little comments so that I knew there was an audience. (Actually, this has never been a problem for me as anyone who followed my betting blog for over 7 years can testify!)

Still, here's some of my favourite comments from the year:

20. "Marina from Stingray, and then Nanette Newman when I was a teenager" (Phil, praising wildly inappropriate crushes).

19. "I've never noticed the farting. I hope that does not put me in the not nailed yet bracket." (Iain, finally realising my long-term crush on him).

18. Davida and Lyn - two old flames - who have never met each other, hi-jacking a serious posting in praise of organic farms in order to have a chat about their kid's/cousin's performances in various summer surfing contests. (Facebook can be a very surreal place.)

17. "A very small point of order, these days Playboy bunnies don't have a minge" (Eve). Golf takes a back-seat, as Eve updates me on the latest downstairs grooming fads. JJ suggests Eve's own knowledge needs updating. Iain, wisely, tries to get back to the golf.

16. "There's an auto body shop in Laguna called 'the hand job'. (Eileen) when I asked for funny signs. This just about pips Lyn's "Now is the winter of our discount tents" because as Anne will tell you, nothing trumps a knob-gag.

15. In a desperate (and unsuccessful) attempt to stop the Slitherins taking power, I tried to talk up Gordon Brown. This occasioned Wayne to agree - "I've always liked that Stranglers song too."

14. Mark - throughout the year adopting the role of Ezra Pound to my TS Eliot - thinks the predominance of food in my 'in praise ofs', should have led me to renaming them "The Waist Land".

13. "Apparently, Catherine has fully-set tresses" (JJ)
" He means trusses" (Catherine).
JJ - showing he knows more about Playboy bunnies' minges than he does about growing tomatoes. Which frankly is how the world should work.

12. "I expect Gordon Sumner kept a photo of Sting by his bed-side as well" - because it made me laugh, if no-one else.

11. "As your wife, I can tell you, you sound snobbish". (Karin), without whom's support (as with so many other things), I would have given up on several occasions over the year.

10. One of my pet-hates over the year was people inserting a comment on the "in praise of" before I'd even typed the narrative. The one time it actually improved the 'in praise of', however, was Susie's comment after I'd written "In praise of ....Coast":
"What, the woman's high-end boutique clothing-store. Who would have thought....."
Tim's later well-planned and executed "Do I insert the comment in here, Anne", isn't worthy of further comment.

9. "My personal view is that no man who's goolies extend more than 50% the length of his thigh should wear shorts." (Catherine) who appears to have been traumatised by a goliath in her past life. Karin doesn't think they should wear shorts either...

8. "Fucking just north of Salzburg takes some beating" (Ian). This comment actually improves taken out of context. As does, "Strange, isn't it, how Numpnett Thrubwell beats Fucking?" (Mark)

7. "I measure out my life in restaurants I've visited - tastier than coffee-spoons" (Anne), who would have more comments in here, but I had to delete all the snitty ones. Besides, I still haven't forgiven her for the great mushroom practical joke - though karmic forces did see the mushrooms reap their revenge.

6. "Is it too late to send an invoice for those gooseberries?" (Tim) somewhat too late realises he's been partaking of dubious communistic practices and the gooseberries probably aren't even tax deductible.

5. I did an 'in praise of...meze', referencing an unfortunate dining experience I'd had with the CU boys some years ago. Simon remembered it well: "Since then I have had the unshakeable belief that dip is for girls. Normally fat ones."

4. "Toe-curdling, that's one of my favourite ever typos"
"You have to add the oil more slowly to avoid this." (Eve)

3. Early on I did an 'in praise of ...footballs in the stream" where Bobby and I came home along the river, singing songs.
"Has he a good singing voice, your Bobby?" (Karin)
"Well, he's no Kenny Rogers, that's for sure."

2. Mike's comment as a voyeur from afar "Rhythm not habit is man defined" was actually quite moving. It would be number one if I was a sensible person, but in a fight between humour and profundity my money's always on the clown holding the pie.

1. What do you do when clicking the "like" button isn't enough?
"I think you have to click the love button to feel any sort of satisfaction" suggested Sarah, who I haven't ever met, but who asked to be a friend because she'd read the posts on Anne's wall and wanted to join in.

Thanks all, and apologies to anyone feeling left out, or under-appreciated!


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