Hotels and temptation

Often hotels have the good sense to put a message on their towelling robes saying that if you would like to buy one of these you should contact housekeeping - while I've often wondered what they would say if you made such a request, I realise that it's really just a polite way of asking you not to accidentally put them in your case when you're packing to leave.

It seems surprising to me to see that they don't appear to see the need to similarly label clothes brushes when they're as delicious as this one I recently encountered.   A very solid and dark hardwood (mahogany?) with a very thin metal veneer looks like a formidable instrument of correction to me.

Sunny summer weather

We get so little really nice sunny summer weather in the UK that inevitably there are some things you are bound to forget from one time to the next.

Like, it's a really scorching day and you know a secluded little beach that nobody ever goes to and won't be overlooked.  You reach there and waste no time stripping off and soaking in the sun - after a while you have a splash about in the sea for a while to cool down and then return to the sun worshipping to allow yourself to slowly dry off.

Eventually, sadly, it's time to leave and that's when you remember!

Sand is really sticky stuff, and it's hard to get rid of it all before you put your clothes back on but it will be very uncomfortable if you don't.

Okay, so let me help - hand my one of your flip-flops and I'll show you just how we can remove that nasty sand!

And of course I hope you remembered when you first got to the beach - always SLIP-SLOP-SLAP!

European Court of Human Rights

The UK politicos and right wing end of the press in the UK (I don't think they have another end) have been having a right moan lately about the European Court of Human Rights.   The Sun newspaper reported on 8th July "BRITAIN may have to leave the European Court of Human Rights to stop another Abu Qatada shambles, David Cameron and Theresa May declared last night."

Am I the only one thinking that the abolition of corporal punishment in UK schools owed a lot to pressure from that court and several cases that the UK government lost in that court over the issue?  So if we were to come out...  I don't imagine for one moment there would be a headlong rush to repeal the ban, but maybe a few years down the line, some relaxation allowing some private schools to have a limited reintroduction???  Almost enough to make me vote conservative (but not quite).

Favourite for July

For only the second time in my "favourite" series I'm choosing to feature a drawing.  I chose it because I can still recall the first time I saw this in the original magazine and it was such a powerful image.  The interesting use of "Brown and White" instead of "Black and White" seems to add to the affect and enhances the story.

I don't recall what the relationship was supposed to be between the powerfully built military gent and the young slip of a girl but a number of things are very clear.  She is a slender and fragile young thing and her thin shift dress is going to give next to no protection to her buttocks and we can indeed see the shape of those as the flimsy material drapes across them. The leather implement he has seized to chastise appears to be some sort of saddlery and as such is likely to be thick and hard leather.  He is clearly furious over something and is no mood to listen to her and is going to teach her a very hard lesson before this session is out and he's aiming at the most tender spot.   And from the way her hands have lifted from the table we can see the shock that is coursing through her even though her thrashing has only just begun and she looks likely to be there for some time until his anger begins to abate.

Now I've come across this image once again I just have to dig out the original magazine to get some background to their story.