Thursday 31 August 2017

Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 31-8-2017: Diana

How many bloody stupid* people are there?

No, really?

I work in a call centre in Chelmsford: one that handles emergency calls for social landlord.

Repairs, usually.   If you’re in social housing, and something breaks down, your landlord’s the one to repair it: and we handle the out of hours calls.

We send out engineers when you boiler starts leaking, or something goes wrong with the wiring.

I had one call, last night: JUST towards the end of my shift.

That was a decided unemergency.

The woman who phoned in?

Her emergency was the flooring in the kitchen.

It had air bubbles.

And was making the oven wobble.

I hate sounding rude, patronising or uncaring … but a wobbling oven … ?

Dear gods!

~≈≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga† and Debbi‡ putting in their answers: with both scoring five out of five.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the How To, License and video

Q1) 31st August, saw the death of Princess Diana: Princess of where?
Q2) Her death was on 31st August.   Of which year: 1996, 1997 or 1998?
Q3) Famously, she was in a car that crashed: in which European city?
Q4) That city is in which country?
Q5) News of her death was broken to her two sons: by Diana’s ex husband, and father of her children.   Who is her ex husband?
Q6) Name either of their sons.
Q7) At the time of her death, Diana was dating Dodi al Fayed, son of Mohammed al Fayed.   Mohammed al Fayed ran which Knightsbridge shop?
Q8) The many conspiracy theories about Diana’s death^, ignore the fact her driver was extremely drunk at the time of her death.   What was the name of the driver?
Q9) Diana’s funeral was held at which Abbey?
Q10) Finally … Diana is buried at the family estate, Althorp.   Althorp is in which English county?
Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) The city of Melbourne was formally founded: on 30th August, 1835.   The city’s in which English speaking nation?
A1) Australia.
Q2) The first transmission on the Moscow/Washington Hotline was made: on 30th August, 1963.   The current version of the hotline is what: a teleprinter, secure email system or phone-line?
Q3) The Allied Control Council Came into being on 30th August, 1945.   Name either of the countries the Council controlled.
Q4) 30th August, 1982: Yasser Arafat and the organization he led were forced out of their HQ.   In which Middle Eastern city?
A4) Beirut.
Q5) Finally … 30th August, 1946, saw the birth of actress Peggy Lipton.   Who does she play in Twin Peaks?
Here’s possibly the only song I could use …


And a quote from Earl Spencer, Diana’s brother, given at her funeral …
“It is a tribute to her level-headedness and strength that despite the most bizarre-like life imaginable after her childhood, she remained intact, true to herself.”
From the Oration give by Earl Spencer.
Today’s questions will get answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.

Have a good day.





*        The other bloody stupid call I got?   A woman phoned in, asking if we could force entry … and blow out her candles.   WHAT … ?

†        Interesting little read, that, Olgaª: I’ll finish it later, but thank you for highlighting it.   These those’s keyboard shortcuts, again: CMD, SHIFT and D, puts it in my Reading list!   (Yeah, the fact it’s an email system’s disappointing.   Let’s face it, the Batphone’s iconic!)

‡        You’re right, Debbiª: I hope it does.   So far I think the bad outweighs the good!   (Oh, remember we tweeted about brain implants?   I saw this BBC article about pacemakers: apparently, one brand is hackable, and needs people to update the firmware.)

^        I can understand the idea of a conspiracy theory: they ALWAYS turn up.   But … ?   those conspiracy theories STILL ignore the fact the driver’s blood alcohol level would have got him arrested in most countries in Europe, a lot of the USA, and every Islamic country in the Middle East.   Stupidity, again: you don’t need a conspiracy theory, when there’s a drunk driver involved.

ª        Oh, I thought this would tickle a pair of writers.   The last provision of the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s will has been completed.   He wanted no-one — with the possible exception of his daughter, Rhianna — to complete any of his unfinished works.   To that end, the hard drive with them on has been squashed by a six ton steam-roller.   I laughed.   It’s very much in character with what I know of the man … and, much as I’d like to read those drafts?   Seems very fitting.

2 comments:

Olga said...

Q1) Wales
Q2) 1997
Q3) Paris
Q4) France
Q5) Charles, Prince of Wales
Q6) William and Harry
Q7) Harrods
Q8) Henri Paul
Q9) Westminster Abbey
Q10) Northamptonshire (I did several locums at Northampton and was good friends with one of the secretaries who was a rambler and we did go for walks on the state, although that was quite a while back)
I did read the news item about Terry Pratcher. Yes, fitting indeed. I use pocket to save stuff. Not sure it's any better than anything else, but as it sits on the browser it's a reminder to save things and then they send newsletters collecting stuff (like the article I sent you).
It reminds me of covering A&E in Barcelona and having people coming with an ache they'd had for seven years...And no, it hadn't worsened. They were just bored that day.

Debbi said...

You're right. That does seem like Sir Terry. Talk about having control over one's intellectual property! :)

Rob Wilkins must have been a very good friend.

1. Wales
2. 1997
3. Paris
4. France
5. Prince Charles
6. William and Henry
7. Harrods Department Store
8. Henri Paul
9. Westminster Abbey
10. Northamptonshire