The sign below was seen by friends of mine while on holiday in Vietnam.
They have to be named. They are Dr John Brownsdon and his wife Mary, who live in Ramsey, and they tell me that as soon as they saw the sign they immediately thought of me.
I’m still trying to work out what they mean.
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This week’s Manx crossword clue has come in from Sylvia Lawrinson. It was in the Times Quick Cryptic as follows: ‘Douglas native perhaps left with monarch (8).’
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News broadcasters like to finish a bulletin with a neat little pay-off line and James Davis of Manx Radio is one such. Last week his ending news item was a story about a British Heart Foundation survey which shows that the thing people find hardest to give up is chocolate, it being harder than giving up alcohol, caffeine and even sex.
James said: ‘Fifty Shades of Milk Tray?’ I think somebody at Manx Radio should have a whip round for him.
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There was a headline in the Manx Independent last week saying: ‘Prison sentence for biting policewoman.’
Who did she bite?
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One of the presenters of the Woman Today programme on Manx Radio – I’m not sure which one – ended a discussion on ageism by saying: ‘You’re as old as the woman or the man you feel.’
Just be certain that whichever one you feel doesn’t mind.
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Valerie Cottle, now perhaps the doyenne of Manx female journalism, saw the following on the BBC News website: ‘+*** 'n:Disappearing&# 039; isle in Tate display 11 A collection of black and white pages portraying a ":disappearingManx way of life" is displayed at the Tate Britain in London.’
Quots that you’re saying?”
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Trevor Owen emails to tell me he saw a van in Douglas offering an ironing service. The name on the side of the van was ‘The Iron Lady.’
Mr Owen pressed me to use this.
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Jim Crook says there are signs at each end of the underground works outside the Claremont Hotel in Douglas, one saying ‘Site Entry’ and the other saying ‘Site Egress’. He asks me to interpret and I suppose ‘Site Ingress’ would be more in keeping with the style.
But I would gone for just ‘In’ and ‘Out.’
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Today’s excavated item from my Funnies File has the Sunday Telegraph saying that the number of air safey inspectors employed by the UK Department of Transport had ‘doubled to 15.’
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Kids Are Quick:
Teacher: ‘Donald. What is the chemical formula for water?’
Donald: ‘H I J K L M N O.’
Teacher: ‘What are you talking about?’
Donald: ‘Yesterday you said it was H2O.’
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Crossword: Islander.