Someone Nabbed My Parking Space and I Didn't Go Ape Crazy on All Fours

I guess I must be integrating well here in Estonia. Earlier on today I was in a multi-storey in one of the big shopping centres in Tallinn, which is undergoing some kind of refurbishment so spaces are at a premium. That coupled with the fact that it's cold out and seems to have snowed perpetually for the last month and everyone really wants to be undercover.
Having spotted a space I did my usual of overshooting it, indicating, and backing in. Of course the person sitting right on my arse wasn't about to roll over and let me take it, and nipped in there front-ways (presumably I'd have got the blame if I'd reversed into them).
Now, time was I'd have flipped. I mean, window down, out of the car, screaming and f-ing and blinding etc. Not a good idea, especially in England, I'm thinking of various knifing incidents. I even met someone once who managed to break his own leg kicking someone who'd done more or less the same thing!
It's a bit different here though. The poker-faced, I'm-never-wrong way people go about things in the baltics means that you might as well shout at the wall. You'd only come off second best. I can see it now, main headline on ETV news, mad Englishman screams at driver in car park. The tag would probably stick.
So I left it. Hardly even felt angry. And I found another space just round the corner!
Hardly worth reporting but I'm pleased with the outcome!

Unnecessary Plug for Unnecessary Quotes Blog

Finally I had a post up on the blog of  unnecessary quote marks. In short, this is a blog in which users send in photos of signs and so forth which, in a twisted variant of the grocer's apostrophe (as in CD's and Vegetable's for sale etc.), words are in speech marks when they clearly don't need to be.
Mine wasn't anything special, just from an ad on a car detailing website for cotton towels, but there are some real gems there...not sure if the rules confine this to the English speaking world; non-native speakers of English should probably be exempt from such ridicule (but in any case, check out engrish.com!) but I'll look out for signs advertising things like 'hot' coffee or 'friendly' service whilst out and about in Tallinn's old town in any case.

Don't Believe the Hype - Seth's Blog (think this title`s been used before but what, ho).

Good post and food for thought from my big bro´ today regarding fearmongering, you know the type of thing, everyone with a turban´s about to explode, the polar ice cap will melt this summer and you´ll drown, politicians work 24/7 on ways to fleece everybody except their close circle , that type of thing.
Check it out here.

Who Invented the Flamethrower?

A new fave comedian of mine, the late George Carlin, on one of my favourite weapons, just for the sheer sick mindedness of those who came up with it. Still, they could do with it in those caves in Afghanistan (despite what Carlin says the US apparently got rid of them shortly after Vietnam)...

The First 1000 Followers..Seth's Blog

According to my  big brother's blog, the critical number of fans, customers, subscribers, and presumably followers, is 1000! If you keep those 1000 happy, everything will take care of itself. So, just another 999 followers to go, who will be next!!!

Strange Laws in Tallinn

It transpires that we have to keep the pavement outside our (communal) house clear, or relatively so, of snow. There's actually a chance of Tallinn city government, down at heel as it is, fining owners for failing to do so!
Luckily the Puumaja is equipped with snow shovels and the like for performing this public service, though I've managed to avoid it so far, the neighbours keep beating me to it! But I'm a busy man..

On This Day 344 Years Ago

...some things are everlasting..
December 25th 1665: "To church in the morning, and there saw a wedding in the church, which I have not seen many a day; and the young people so merry one with another, and strange to see what delight we married people have to see those poor fools decoyed into our condition, every man and woman gazing and smiling at them."

Hilarious Xmas Traditions

Tim Flowers is an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher based in the capital city of one of the baltic states. He is 42 years old. His previous job was working for the Post Office (main sorting office - as a superintendent) and this excellent and relevant background has given him a good grasp of the fundamentals of the English language, and the art of teaching it to others. He hails, as he likes to say, from Northamptonshire in England, a very glamorous part of the world indeed, and so is not at all out of place mingling with the glitterati of the Old Town where he hangs out on a Friday or Saturday night. He likes beer.
It's Christmas time, mistletoe and wine and so I thought that I'd ensure that I was worth every last penny of the fairly sizeable amount that the students have spent on my 'lessons' by finishing off term with a list of unusual, and really very amusing, xmas traditions from around the world. They must be true because I found the list on one of my colleague's desk, which was I think a copy of a copy of a copy of something from a now-defunct ESL website called "English language drop in shop" or something like that, I dunno I've never actually used the internet to put together teaching materials; my genius lies within the confines of my own cerebral cortex, ever able to come up with a dazzling array of explanations, games and anecdotes to keep them coming back for more (at least until the end of the course).
Anyway, here they are, brace yourself:

• In Luxembourg, children must skip anti-clockwise around an old, dead cat-sock (whatever that may be) before they can receive their present.
• Christmas is actually celebrated on 14th June in Kiribati. This is because it is in the Southern Hemisphere and, due to time zone differences, the day corresponds with 25th December in the Northern Hemisphere.
• A traditional Christmas dinner in England consists of turkey, cranberry sauce and, titter, mince pies, which aren't really pies at all, more like something like a giant jaffa cake.
• In Scotland, Christmas is called "Hogmanay" and culminates in the ritual slaughter of a pretend haggis.
• Instead of Father Christmas, children in Armenia can look forward to their presents being delivered by a spotty youth on a BMX.
  
• Due to a bye-law dating back to the regime of Oliver Cromwell, which has somehow been overlooked and remains on the statute book, the residents of Twickledrie in Southern Scotland are forbidden to celebrate Christmas.
• In Latvia, it is customary to drink Riga Balzams, an unholy concoction sold in strange-looking bottles, with holly sprigs.
  

So, looks like the final lesson's gonna be a laugh a minute.