[rab] what's the point of the Edinburgh consulate?

Emergency passports for US citizens. My wife needed one once, so the proximity was very handy.

(Phil) A purveyor of that which cheers? Best of luck, whatever you do. Out-of-work is not good for anyone and it's happened to me three times.

[Rosie, Phil] Out-of-work has been happening to me for 3 years now, and boy is it ever getting the better of my sanity.

Hidden text

Wibble

Maybe I should try the lying...

[Knobbers] Why not? I'm sure lots of people do.

I wouldn't. Particularly as anyone who's any good as a wordsmith can use the truth to say what they want without actually needing to lie.

I feel fairly confident that no-one will make any objections to the notice of impending marriage between the windy miller and me, which for the next three weeks will be pinned on the noticeboard, almost behind the filing cabinet, in the inner porch of the back door of the British Consulate in Amsterdam. You have to speak through the intercom to the grumpy security guard at the front door, and again at the back door intercom to get in there, so I doubt you'll get in anyway. I took a friend with me to Amsterdam today, and she had to wait on the street until I complained to the consul officer, and he sent the guard out to bring her in.

I would protest in the strongest terms, if I had good reason, and/or could be bothered...so feel free, and go ahead!

[Pen] Congratulations. Break a leg, as I think they say in Belgium :-)

I trust it's written in English, translated from the Dutch via Estonian, Kurdish, American Sign Language and Xhosa. That sounds like a good excuse for a gin.

[INJ] Indeed. Cheers. :o)

(pen) Never tried it - there aren't enough saints to choose from. Works for some and I hope it does for you.

Congrats is the usual thing. I tried it once, but the wheels fell off after a while, didn't stop me doing it again though, but that was for pension reasons.

[Softers] This is like getting my first car at the age of 46. Although, of course, I actually passed my driving test at 17 and bought my first car at 23. And somewhere halfway through that analogy, it stopped working. I'm marrying the windy miller for his money and for the free flour.

(pen) Not going Dutch, then. :-)

[pen] sounds like a grind...

Congratulations. I think our intention to submit appeared on a scrolltext screensaver in the waiting room of the registry office.

Thanks all. We may even start booking things this week, if the windy miller gets his finger out. In other news, there's a fairly important event at the university today, and I wanted to look a bit smarter than usual. I had to root through the wardrobe to find a suit that wasn't too big this morning... this diet business appears to be working.

[pen] congrats on the gradual "vanishing lady" trick.

Looks like this site is currently the victim of an automated spam attack. I may have to temporarily disable posting at short notice while I introduce a countermeasure. Apologies if that's the case.

Let's see if that's worked...

You will understand if I don't reveal precisely what I've done to stem the flow... but as at MCiOS you may be asked a simple question from time to time. Don't take offence if this happens to you.

Having seen the posts before they were wiped I thought they might be taking the first baby steps towards xkcd #810. A good few years to go yet, though.

Looks like I'm encookied already, eh?

... I should check that those who aren't can still gain entry if they are legitimate.

That worked!

No thanks - I'm on a diet. 7kg lost so far.

Whereas I appear to have put on a stone. I'm holding out a vague hope that it's just my not-very-accurate scales.

[SM] I can heartily recommend Slimming World. It's effective, and it's a very healthy way of eating (and supposed to educate you away from the way of eating that made you fat in the first place). I haven't felt as well as this for yonks. If you can't bear to go to a club meeting (too many echoes of 'The League of Gentlemen' and their sketches of the victimisation at the Fat Club meetings) then do it online, and join the Facebook Group that acts as an online meeting.

[penelope] Was it not Little Britain that did the Slimming Club, I though League of Gentlemen was the Dole office meetings.

[FGZa] I stand corrected. Fat, unemployed... the two go together in that kind of world. *ducks*

Why did you duck?

[FGZ*] Avoiding the sail of a windmill.

And the sale of a windmill, one would hope, to say nothing of a funeral. Don't try to be La Doña Quixote, pen.

Luckily we don't own any windmills - most of them are owned by charitable foundations. There are only a few privately-owned and commerically run mills in NL, and usually they have to diversify to make ends meet - shops, tea rooms and cafes etc. However, there is a large consulation project sponsored by the province to come up with new ideas to make mills less reliant on public money, of which there is less and less available. By the way.