From: Not_Al_Crawford@ed.ac.uk (Not Al Crawford)
Newsgroups: alt.peeves
Subject: Re: Freshers
Date: 7 Oct 92 13:56:04 GMT
Reply-To: Not_Al_Crawford@ed.ac.uk (Not Al Crawford)
Organization: Penicuik People's Revolutionary Sheepdog Liberation Front

In article <26629@castle.ed.ac.uk> jeremy@castle.ed.ac.uk (JHenderson) writes:
>
> I don't think there's any need to expand on the peeve implied by the
> subject line, so I'll pass on to peeve #2

Actually, I find freshers to be something of an anti-peeve. Watching them
can be rather entertaining. It's easy to spot them - they're the ones who
look a) enthusiastic and b) lost. Since more seasoned denizens of JCMB just
look b) lost, you only need to look for someone who actually seems
enthusiastic about whatever it is they're doing. This means they're either
a fresher, or insane, both of which are fun to watch.

Why are they fun? OK, maybe too many years stuck in the basement here have
raised my boredom threshold to the point where if I've got to spend an
afternoon watching paint dry I'll go and get some popcorn and one of those
wee plastic cartons of orange juice that you poke the straw through the top
of, but watching a lost looking fresher pass your office every ten minutes,
going in a different direction and looking more and more desparate each
time is surprisingly good entertainment.

> Having been banished from the hallowed halls of the Janes Clerk Maxwell
> Building to a grungy hole full of neanderthals with plaid shirts, big
> boots and beards (i.e. geologists)

Hmm, not too sure Babs'll like you referring to her like that Jeremy. Does
she even *have* a plaid shirt?

> Now if I really strain my memory I can just about remember when we used
> to laugh at people when they had their hair cut. It was when I wore short
> pants and my mother made me wear Wellington boots if it was raining
> outside. Since then, call me humourless, but I've rather failed to see
> the funny side.

Ah yes, these are no doubt the same sort of people who considered it a hoot
to give you "the dumps" on your birthday. You're not humourless, Jeremy,
they're just brain-dead. Or maybe geophysicists.

While we're taking the intellectual high-ground, I have to admit to being
seriously peeved about _The Big Breakfast_, the new breakfast TV show
presented by the excruciating Bob Geldof and his even-worse half. While
flicking through the newspaper last night, I noted that in an inexplicable
bout of good taste, _The Big Breakfast_ was going to be showing The Banana
Splits, something I haven't seen since I was about 5. So, at the assigned
time of 7.25am this morning I switched from my regular diet of financial
news and deeply important serious world events to watch Fleegle, Bingo,
Drooper and Snork (just what the hell *were* they, anyway? I always found
the idea of a kid's show where the cuddly characters looked like the
results of an explosion in a taxidermists rather amusing) falling over a
lot and hitting each other. The peeve? They only showed the titles and
about 30 seconds worth of the actual show. I left the room for a minute to
take a leak, figuring I wouldn't miss much, and it was *finished* when I
came back. No "Size of an elephant!", no little girls singing in Spanish
and playing guitars, no banana buggies, *nothing*. What's junk culture
coming to these days...

--
		Not Al Crawford - Not_Al_Crawford@ed.ac.uk
      "Brothers, sisters, we don't need this fascist sheepdog thang"