Why no-one listens to Rob McJ

I say!

Looking at the Duneditin snaps reminded me of a conversation I had with Rob McJ, one of the other invited ‘A’ List bloggers. The conversation took place in the interval before the start of the “Ralwin’s Third Postulate” session, and it went something like this.

RMcJ “Mingin, No one listens to me”

MM III “That’s unfortunate. Have you analysed why that should be?”

RMcJ “Yes, I…”

MM III “For example, the very first thing you must do, if you want someone to listen to you, is obviously have something to say. If you don’t have anything to say, then it all becomes rather difficult.”

RMcJ “Well, I…”

MM III “And whilst we’re on the subject, the thing that you say must be interesting. No-one will listen to you if what you say is not interesting.”

RMcJ “Yes, but…”

MM III “Possibly more important than having something interesting to say is that you need to look for the right opportunity to say it. If the person who you want to say something to is otherwise occupied, then there’s little chance that they will listen to you.”

RMcJ “Quite. But…”

MM III “Another thing you must watch out for is to never, for example, mention ‘bliss’ to Hotters. If you mention ‘bliss’ to Hotters, then he’s likely to start one of his four-hour monologues, and you’ll never get a word in edgeways.”

RMcJ “I…”

MM III “This is a very interesting conversation. I’m glad you brought it up. Another piece of advice I would offer is to always make the topic of conversation something to do with the person you’re talking to. If you do that, then you’ll almost certainly get their attention.”

RMcJ “But if…”

MM III “Whatever you do, don’t go on at length about, for example, birding, if the person you’re trying to talk to has no interest in ornithology.”

RMcJ “Exactly”

MM III “Or trainspotting.”

RMcJ “Trainspotting?”

MM III “Yes. That’s a real turn-off for most people. Not the book…the hobby”

RMcJ “How about…”

MM III “Also, don’t ever mention the Beach Boys to Brian Wilson. The result of that is almost as bad as mentioning ‘bliss’ to Hotters.”

RMcJ “What do you think…”

MM III “Ah look! The Ralwin Postulate session is starting. Listen, it’s been great hearing all your views. Maybe we can continue this discussion at the tea interval.”

MM III

Duneditin photos, and petrol prices

I say!

Wonderful stuff - some more photos have been made available from the Duneditin 2008 conference held recently in Edinburgh, which I wrote about in a previous post. It shows that my memory is going - I could have sworn that Hotboy was wearing a blue dress.

In the meantime, below is a suggestion for how to deal with rising petrol prices.

MM III

Mrs M at the bullfight

I say!

Hotboy correctly located Mrs M in the last post, and his prize of fame and fortune is on its way shortly.

Here's a closer snap of Mrs M, and doesn't she look both lovely and very Spanish?


MM III

Where's Mrs M at the bullfight?

I say!

In my previous post I showed some snaps of the bullring at Ronda, in Spain, and will shortly post some final findings concerning bullfighting and cricket.

In the meantime, can you spot Mrs M at the bullfight at Marbella, below?


MM III

Bullfighting and cricket

I say!

What a wonderful trip Mrs M and myself have been having, firstly to Spain, and then dear old Blighty, where I performed alongside some very notable bloggers from around the world at the Duneditin 2008 Conference.

The purpose of the trip to Spain was to prove, once and for all, that bullfighting evolved from the great and very ancient game of cricket. For this purpose, we visited Ronda - where the oldest bullring in Spain is to be found. What a delightful place Ronda is, and I will post some more snaps I took at a later date.

I had also been invited to give a presentation to the Ronda Roundtable on "Post 80s New Caledonia cricket poetry blogs - a brief introduction to the main issues". Here I am getting set up before the full-house crowd arrived.


But back to the main topic of this post. Here is a snap taken outside the Ronda Bullring:


And here is one taken inside the ring:


The bullring authorities had kindly set up a 'wicket' in order for me to get a better angle on things. Unfortunately, their interpretation of wicket was a little confused, as can be seen below - it is raised from the ground - however, it did enable me to imagine what it was once like when cricket was played at this venue, before the great game somehow became corrupted, and bulls became involved.


More on this topic shortly.

Late news - Though I know that many would support me, I would just like to say that I am not available for the post of new captain of the England cricket team. Personally, I believe that Robert Key should get the job, although this is unlikely.

MM III