Every year in Spain they celebrate the Luminarias Festival where they ride a horse through fire and every year at least one paper uses the headline 'Blazing Saddles' alongside a spectacular photo of a horse and rider galloping through soaring flames.
Congratulations to the Daily Express for doing it this year and keeping up a fine sub-editing tradition.
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Don't want to seem too heavy but what constitutes a life changing experience? I did a two week trek along the Great Wall of China last year for charity. It was fantastic, it was memorable and it made me think about all sorts of things. But life changing? No. Yet, you could argue that the most life changing thing I ever did may have been to pass the 11 plus. It determined which school I went to and which one I didn't. That, in turn, determined who I become friends with - some of whom have yet to take out restraining orders on me and remain in contact. These friends and the general environment were major influences on my choice of career which led me to my first full time job where I met the woman who was to eventually become the second (and final) Mrs Solomons and...well, you get my drift.
It may be that I would have gone on to follow the same profession from another school and made even better friends - no, I'm joking guys, not possible!
The point is, life changing experiences are not what we may think. And I believe the biggest life changers are often events that you would rather not happen. My friends lost their child a few months after she was born very prematurely. They decided to use the experience to set up a charity to raise money in order to stop others going through the same awful situation (the money goes towards research and equipment and the training of medical specialists).
Their view is that they wanted something good to come out of it and ten years later the charity is still going strong. I did the walk to raise money for them. They're the ones who have coped with a life changing experience, not me.
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Mate of mine went into a pub at lunchtime today - The Bunch of Grapes by London Bridge as it goes - and asked for a glass of Merlot. Once poured, he was charged £7.50, for a GLASS!
There were cheaper wines on the menu but he did ask for Merlot. But what really grates is that after he had drunk it, we found a wine menu and there was an alternative, cheaper Merlot on offer too.
It's enough to make you think that the principle of good service has disappeared from our pubs so hats off to two other pubs nearby - The Boot and Flogger and The Olde King's Head where the wine was just as good and much cheaper but, more importantly, the bar staff made sure we knew the options before we ordered.
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Good point made by my friend, the PR guru Mark Borkowski, who pointed out that Barclays have spent a fortune sponsoring commuter bicycles across the whole of London yet they are universally known as Boris Bikes, and probably always will be. And the mayor didn't have to spend a penny to get that publicity. That's the difference between advertising and PR I guess.
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So, two bigoted tosspots have been made to pay compensation to a gay couple they would not allow to share a room in their bed and breakfast. And then had the affrontery to hide their prejudices behind the catch-all excuse that it was their 'religious beliefs.' I know quite a few devout Christians. While I scorn their belief in a God that clearly doesn't exist, I also happen to know they are among the most fair minded people I have ever met so that excuse doesn't wash with me.
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Having some work done at home, I cleared out a room for the builder but overlooked a couple of items on a shelf. Builder must have found them because he left them on my bedside table. One item just happened to be a deck of cards given to me by a very gay friend of mine several years ago as a joke (I think!) Each card has a picture of a naked man on the back (and so did the box). The builder hasn't made eye contact with me since.
See ya later, big boy...Solly
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