Leslie's Laughs

A Christmas Carol There's a line in a Frank Sinatra Christmas song that goes like this " Overeating, merry greetings from  relatives you don't know ".  A couple of days into the twelve days of Christmas and the truth of that kicked this idle mind into gear.  Not the "overeating", that goes without saying, it's the greetings from relatives you don't know. And friends.  And friends of friends.  And acquaintances. And unknown numbers from WhatsApp Lists or known ones from WhatsApp groups.  I'm not getting into Instagram here.  You're probably thinking, "Here's Ebenezer Scrooge to spread his Christmas jeer" but I say, "Bah, humbug!"  Old Eb never had social media to contend with. Between Cratchits and Hashtags he would have embraced the Ghost of Christmas Past and thrown away his device. Sorry for the literary references (What the Dickens is he talking about?) but that's really how the idle mind wanders.   I got to thi

  Image by narciso1 from pixabay.com [October and November were celebration months in our household - and in the organization where I work.  You can imagine, in the time of corona, the number of wishes that were mandatory and the rest that just fly around the internet on the back of Social Media.  So, here's my take on the wishing overflow, in my own irreverent style.  Please comment, like/dislike, share or just smile and carry on.  It's been a long time since I wrote, so any kind of encouragement might bring forth a few more of these. - Leslie] The Olde English phrase, "If wishes were horses beggars would ride", got me thinking: If wishes were anything tangible, beggars might ride, buy real estate, or high quality stereo equipment, go on holiday (post-Covid) and do a multitude of things other than risk keeping it in a local bank! And another thing, I don't know about you guys, but I have saved a lot of money in physical wishes, sending cards and gifts (thanks to

A meme sent to me by a friend sums it up [The end is nigh, or so they say.  The end to the long 54 day lockdown. The end to a whole lot of Lockdown Live superstars  and home concerts  on Facebook, cooking expertise, yummy recipes, expert opinions and confessions of Who's-in-Charge stories at home.  And perhaps the end of this lockdown blog?  Not so sure, it could become the "new normal".  So herewith my sacrilegious observations on some of the dress sense and etiquette shown during lockdown online programs.  As usual, laugh, share, comment, or delete.] I guess you've all seen memes like the one above, where everyone dresses for their official meetings, only from the waist up.  You've probably also seen videos of the same guy getting up to get something and revealing the rest of his torso, clothed loosely in wrinkled night pants, at best. Or you might recall the 'family' video where one of the ladies walks with her mobile to the loo, drops her jeans

Image by  Александр Красовский  from  Pixabay   [This one is some sort of hair-raising tale, which had me in splits for awhile till someone pointed out that split ends are not the best thing to have. Read on, if your experiences resonates with those featured here -- names changed to protect identity which is already protected by unrecognizability -- please do share, comment, laugh.] As I have often confessed, I spend more time in the Library of Facebook and Instagram than is recommended by the University of WhatsApp.  So, friends and relations aside, a lot has been gleaned from those ancient tomes!  Not the least of which is the fact that if we don't visit the barber we will look barbaric .  Weak puns. But anything is welcome in this period of intellectual starvation.  Another meme has a picture of a pile of money, with a Barber and a Divorce Lawyer silhouetted against the backdrop accompanied by the phrase, "After the lockdown".  Yet another poster decries the

From a post on Facebook, author and place unknown Okay, so I suffered a rather long bout of momentary writer's block.  Perhaps it was due to what can now be called a blockade, rather than a lockdown, judging from the number of thoroughfares that have fallen victim to the barricades demarcating them as containment zones.  A depression locked me down when I read of deaths not due to Covid, film stars and migrant workers, cancer and death-by-cycling-home (a novel disease invented in India). Some of them flooded Facebook with obituaries, old pictures and clips of songs and videos. The others managed to elude all but the most dogged of press reporters.  And then friends started texting me asking "What happened to your blog?"  and "We are waiting to read the next episode in the lockdown tales".  So, here it is, a bit of a ramble on things that happen around me. Forgive me, share if you like, comment if you don't, whatever. Star Wards This morning we woke up to any

Image by  Tumisu  from  Pixabay   [As a departure from my usual stuff and nonsense, this is a quasi-serious post, based on calls I have had with people, fearing the prolonged extension and its aftermath which some futurists are expecting to last several months. I would seriously like you to consider the issues hidden beneath the surface here and please do leave comments and suggestions as to how the affected persons can best deal with things. Please share on your networks.] The Present Future The video I viewed today was from a guy who styles himself a 'futurist' - so now I have heard them all, futurists, defeatists, fatalists and evangelists as well as doomsday apologists. This particular guy insists that it's going to be a long time - even if the lock down lifts - to get back any semblance of normalcy. He does "data analysis" and says "years, not months". One Facebook wag posed a question: O nce we are back to work -- hope springs eternal -- will we

Image by  Dan Wirdefalk  from  Pixabay   [Okay, so this one is on food.  Not only food, but the sudden profusion of posts about food on social media.  I'm oscillating between salivating for the goodies and resentment for those posting.  This piece takes a look at the variety of foodie things happening on my Net space during lock down.  If you have had similar experiences (or the opposite) please feel free to leave a comment, share on your media or weep with yearning along with me.] There's a meme doing the rounds which goes something like this:  Heartbreak turns people into poets, rain turns them into photographers, but quarantine makes everyone a chef. I've been wondering why my social media feeds have suddenly started showing pictures of exotic dishes, recipes for quick eats and D-I-Y videos of people cooking! So, here goes a brief roundup of my online experience which I rename "Quaranteasing". Our Daily Bread "Buns in oven!" she innocently posted on

Image by  Gerd Altmann  from  Pixabay   [Sitting at home, with a smartphone in one's hand, the mind is tempted to wander off to dabble with social media and the wonderful world of advertisements.  But, not the ones you usually see.  There has been a not-so-subtle change in the ads these days. I'm taking a look at what at worst could be called "bad-vertising" in this peculiar situation.  Hope you find it as funny as I do - will try not to name anyone. Please leave comments on the blog.] If I had a buck for every time I came across the words "uncertain times" or  "unprecedented situation" or even "unique response", I would be a rich man.  I'm reminded of the Batman meme where he takes an almighty swipe at the person using any of these phrases.  Of course, it's unprecedented, that's probably why the astrologers have gone relatively silent.  Foretelling the future is not in vogue anymore.  As the novelty of the Novel Coronavirus n