The joke's on me...

For some reason there are a lot of internet comparison insurance ads on British TV at the moment (I can count five in my head straight away, without too much thought) which have a couple of things in common – they all claim to be the quickest, easiest, cheapest and friendliest, and they all have annoying jingles. 

One of them, called Go-Compare, tries to grab your attention by means of a well-built tenor in a tail suit and a heavily waxed ringlet moustache who suddenly pops us and sings to people sunbathing on beaches, or in other situations (including historic) where they’re minding their own business, to tell them how they must visit the website when they want insurance.  "Go Compare!" features frequently in the lyrics.  The singer is clearly a professional but the tune seems to have been composed by a child and is unbelievably annoying.  His shuddering moustache is even more so. 

A billboard near the hospital where I work has appeared.  It’s near the traffic lights...

...and I nearly collided with the car in front because it made me laugh so much.

A few days later I took my camera into work and stopped to take this picture of it on the way, thinking how much I would enjoy putting it on my blog.

However, it was reported in the news some days later that it was all a spoof by the Go Compare company, and they had produced a whole series...

 ... backed up by TV ads in the same self-mocking vein.

I confess to feeling crestfallen, but I thought international readers might enjoy them anyway!

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Update on Selina: Daughter of my friend Michèle about whom I've told you before.  She suffered a terrible car accident last October and was in a coma for several months.  She is now making a slow recovery.   (Previous updates are here, here and here).

Selina is now fully awake, and there have been many positive advances since I last updated you.  The physios, with whom she is a favourite, are assisting her to stand, and it won’t be long before her leg muscles are strong enough to enable her to do it unaided for short periods.  She can move her right arm slowly, and her sense of humour is definitely back – when given the shower head to help bath herself recently she drenched both her mother and the helper.  Michèle says she can’t move her face to smile yet, but her eyes were dancing and they knew she was laughing at them. 

When asked to identify the missing letter in a word she can write it, and identify the correct answer in a multiple choice history question. When her parents were discussing something in front of her recently, they had been debating whether some medication should be taken for one, two or more weeks, and suddenly noticed that she had been following the conversation and was gently pointing two fingers at them – and then they remembered it was indeed two weeks. She also understands the difference when putting two fingers up in the other direction, because it’s the only gesture of defiance open to her at the moment. She makes all the right moves to help the staff get her in and out of bed, and moves the zips up and down on her coat, so it’s all positive.

The other good news is that the other patient and her very difficult mother the other side of the curtain – they’re obliged to share the room – have departed to some other clinical establishment, and the new lodgers – an older woman and her carer-daughter have moved in and are good and considerate people. Michèle’s stress levels have gone back down again.

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Photo Finish -

from Lonicera's digital archive

Some flowers from my garden

White camellia

Abbot's Pool, a very large pond nearby

Dwarf rhododendron (yakushimanum),

the only one which will grow in neutral soil.

Red camellia

This is the name of my house, called after

my favourite song from John's Clifton Town opera,

"The River Avon"  (see last posts before this one)

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