ROOM 101 - 1984 and all that jazz!

Courtesy of so not - Fat, frumpy and fifty! I found this on Saz's blog a while ago, and borrowed it for a rainy day, or a snowy one, like today!

Please check out Saz's blog if you haven't already; Oh, and if you have handbags on the brain (that's not many of us, eh?!) then Saz has created a new and elegant blog, Handbag Diva Blogspot, designed to showcase her own collection of Vintage treasures, including stories behind the pieces - I can't wait to see and savour them! Gah! Now, I've lost what few male readers I had...


There exists a BBC TV programme, compered by the fabulously surrealist comedian and expert on silent films, Paul Merton.

It's called Room 101 and it's the place where unpleasant things are put or discarded. Room 101 originates from George Orwell's tellingly prophetic novel, 'Nineteen eighty four'.

Big Brother anyone?!

In the TV show personalities ask for 5 of their pet peeves to be cast into into Room 101 and attempt to justify their choices. Sometimes the compere decides that certain things can't go into Room 101, for a variety of reasons...


Here are mine...

Tinned Peaches ~ Urggggggggh. I think it is their other-worldly, sheep's eye consistency - I hate the taste and the smell, and although not allergic as such, I will walk miles in the opposite direction to get away from anything tinned peachy-fied, or its illegitimate spawn, tinned peach slices... I love peaches au naturel - the only way for me!




Another foodie hate - - Whether pickled, fresh or baby, I do not 'do' beetroot - I dislike seeing it on a salad, spilling its trickly innards on to potato salad, coleslaw or tainting the piece of quiche that is nestling there! And in sandwiches? Quelle horreur!

Yah!!! Beetroot!

When looking for photos, I could scarcely believe my eyes, for I found out there was even such a thing as beetroot soup; I mean, what reason would you have to make beetroot soup?!!!

There were photos of people feeding beetroot to their babes, whose mouths were all reddened - How would you ever get that excrescence** out of a baby's skin?!! It's tantamount to child cruelty...

And then, the horror, the horror, I found a cake made of beetroot - Blasphemy! This is a chocolate beetroot cake - It looks innocuous enough, it might tempt you in, but... you couldn't pay me enough, really!


Stuffed Animals - By which I do not mean those harmless teddies and critters that children love, and that adults who want to hang on to bits and pieces of their childhood (such as me - Cough!); Although this would be excessive enough for anyone!

No, I mean animals which once were dead, but now are resurrected, brought once more to Zombie-like life, courtesy of wire and stuffing, all glass eyes and occasionally bared teeth...

I have been known to run through rooms in museums swiftly, eyes closed, drawing the attention of museum staff, so as not to clap eyes on the very Victorian cornucopia of a Noah's Ark, swarms of humming-birds in glass cases, or a panorama of birds, perhaps an eagle, a zebra, a mongoose biting on a poisonous snake, or even the proverbial stag's head.

In country pubs or ye olde style restaurants, which such creatures are known to haunt in an all-seeing kind of way, I have to sit well away from them, my back turned, ignoring their very presence... I love animals; for me, I think the reason behind my pet peeve is that I want to see those animals living, in their natural, or caring 'home environment', not parcelled and packaged and primped and primed on a wire frame into all eternity...

I did a little bit of research, for I've never met anyone who reacts like me. And, thank the goddess Wiki for the Internet, for they are legion - I could not find out what the phobia is called, but some people have it even worse than me apparently - Shaking and wailing, and unable to pass a rampant bear, or a bison's head in a butcher's.

Now that I mention it, I think it might have been that, you know... My much loved nana used to take me to her local butchers, which had sawdust on the floor - It appeared spotlessly clean, enough white tiles for a Porcelanosa store, but the smell was of raw meat, and overseeing it all, the big black horned Bison's Head...


Lord knows where they got the head from, for we have no bison in Britain - I shudder to think! I'm just pondering, it might even have been a buffalo and not a bison - I'm afraid I don't know the difference...


Joke: What's the difference between a buffalo and a bison? ?
Answer: You can't wash your hands in a buffalo.


(I need never pay for therapy, for blogging is getting me to the root of all my fears!)


Back to Goddess Wiki for the 'meat on the bones' - Yuck!: Taxidermy (Greek for "skin arrangement") is the art of mounting or reproducing animals for display, (e.g. as hunting trophies) or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all species of animals including humans.

The methods that taxidermists practice have been improved over the last century, heightening taxidermic quality. After cleaning out the organs, blood and eyes, they replace them with substances to preserve them and replace the eyes. Taxidermists may practice professionally, for museums or as a business catering to hunters and fishermen, or as amateurs, such as hobbyists, hunters, and fishermen. To practice taxidermy, one must be extremely familiar with anatomy, dissection, sculpture, and painting, as well as tanning.

As the demand for quality leather and hides grew, the methods became more and more sophisticated. By the 1700s, almost every small town had a prosperous tannery business. In the 1800s, hunters began bringing their trophies to upholstery shops where the upholsterers would actually sew up the animal skins and stuff them with rags and cotton. (Nice). The term "stuffing" or a "stuffed animal" evolved from this crude form of taxidermy. Professional taxidermists prefer the term "mounting" to "stuffing". More sophisticated cotton wrapped wire bodies supporting sewn on cured skins soon followed.

In France Louis Dufresne, taxidermist at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle from 1793, popularized arsenical soap in an article in Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle (1803–1804). This technique enabled the Muséum to build the greatest collection of birds in the world". I'm not yet convinced...

"In the early 20th century, taxidermy began to evolve into its modern form under the leadership of artists. Taxidermists developed anatomically accurate figures which incorporated every detail in artistically interesting poses, with mounts in realistic settings and poses that were considered more appropriate for the species. This was quite a change from the caricatures that were popularly offered as hunting trophies.

Taxidermists seek to continually maintain their skills to ensure attractive, life-like results.

A new trend is the creation of entirely artificial fish mounts from photographs for catch-and-release fishermen. This technique, called reproduction taxidermy, is gaining favor with both fishermen and animal-rights organizations.

Anthropomorphic Taxidermy: Anthropomorphic taxidermy is where stuffed animals are dressed as people or displayed as if engaged in human activities. This style was popular in Victorian and Edwardian times but can still be found today. English taxidermist Walter Potter's most famous work includes Squirrels’ Club featuring 18 European red squirrels socialising at their 'club', and Death of Cock Robin, a setting of the nursery rhyme". How quaint for the children to look at!

"There is actually a person who has been stuffed. [English philosopher] Jeremy Bentham [1748-1832] bequeathed his body to one of the more noted universities.

He was mounted and is on display in a university cupboard and on occasion gets wheeled into the board meetings to sit in on proceedings. It's extraordinary, because from a legal standpoint one would not normally be able to do such a thing, so obviously he found a loophole somewhere". He didn't find a loophole, he found a hidey-hole - the aforementioned cupboard! I ask you!





Another thing I hate is rude people. Civility and politeness cost nothing. Is it a very British thing, do you think, this obsession with politeness? Perhaps so! Perhaps not...



That doesn't mean to say I am never rude, because sometimes I can be when riled, when my hackles are up. More often than not, though, you'll see me muttering away under my breath in the background, going red in the face - as red as a beetroot in fact, and quivering and quaking somewhat!


I am sick to death of The Simpsons. I used to avidly watch it when it was new, and funny and there was nothing quite like it on TV, but after years and years of my OH and GJ watching it ad nauseam, I am fed up to the back teeth with the same stories, the same laughs, weaker plots and storylines and even Marge Simpson's voice (and I loved Julie Cavner in ) can set my teeth on edge - Grind, grind...

I can tolerate Futurama, which they also watch whenever it is on TV, which seems to be every day, and nearly every hour!!! Yelllpp!


I want to take bigots and racists out of life's equations...

By which I mean I cannot tolerate others who do not appreciate the diversity of the human race - Who want white jobs for white people, or even green jobs for green people. I abhor racism and people who have hidden agendas...



Call me idealistic, naive, a bleeding-heart liberal, and say that it can never be so... And I will tell you that you are narrow-minded, prejudiced, and a fool...





** ex·cres·cence (k-skrsns) noun

1. An outgrowth or enlargement, especially an abnormal one, such as a wart.

2. A usually unwanted or unnecessary accretion: "Independent agencies were an excrescence on the Constitution" Los Angeles Times.

[Middle English, from Latin excrscentia, from neuter pl. of excrscns, excrscent-, present participle of excrscere, to grow out : ex-, ex- + crscere, to grow; see ker-2 in Indo-European roots.]

Don't tell me you don't learn something new here each day - Something that will do you no good whatsoever in life - Look at me!