Is it just me? Apparently new EC Regulations ban the production and sale of vacuum cleaners over 1600watts. I can appreciate why and I'm sure that designs can be made to be very strong and efficient at that power but I do wonder whether our lives are becoming just too regulated.
On a lighter note can you see the face in the Agapanthus bud?
I upset a rhino,
That you and I know,
By saying it was verminous.
How was I to know
That that rhino
Was thin skinned
As well as pachyderminous.
A zebra, it is said,
Is an equine quadruped.
It is, of course,
A striped horse.
Well they filled some of the blank space!
A total mystery about banning powerful vacuum cleaners. I want us to be in the EU but sometimes - !!
ReplyDeleteAnd I am I suppose highly unimaginative but I CAN'T see a face! Sorry :)
After 4 comments Jenny it's Ladies 0, Men 2.
DeleteNo face for me, either. Great poem. Did you write it?
ReplyDeleteThe truthful answer Frances is that I don't know but I think probably not. I came across them in some of my writings from my teen years but where they came from I have no idea. It was, however, during the years when I was writing whimsy as well as what I thought of as poetry.
DeleteThey are Grooks - Piet Hein.
DeleteYes our relatively new vacuum at 1900W would be banned, and I'd like a more powerful one. As for the face I think I can see one in the drops of water on the left hand side; there is a drop for the nose and then two for the lips, plus a drop for the left eye.
ReplyDeleteYou can see what I see Mark. Mine's old and 1300 and I'd certainly like a more powerful one.
DeleteI can see the face to the left of the bud - composed of water droplets and pouting.
ReplyDeleteEurocrats who personally burn far too much energy through their own transport arrangements and big cars for example, telling the rest of us we can't have ultra-powerful vacuum cleaners! Did we really agree to this kind of interference when we signed up for the Common Market? Why can't they equalise wine prices or the cost of rail tickets instead of nannying us about our hoovers?
So far YP Men = 2 and Ladies = 0. I wonder what that says. It's the sort of regulation which does start making everyone wonder about Eurocracy.
DeleteAh. You never said it was sideways. Now I see it. Does that count?
DeleteA grand poem whoever wrote it.
ReplyDeleteI can never see faces in clouds or anywhere unexpected. I must be unimaginative.
Whatever you are Adrian 'unimaginative' is not an adjective I would ever use of you.
DeleteI only saw it after reading the comments, so you'd better put me down as a zero.
ReplyDeleteI like silly pomes. I used to write a lot when I was still at school. Very few were any better than poor, banal and trite. But I think perhaps it was good practice, because I'm better these days.
Kate I have quite a few similar pomes in my tomes of yore.
DeleteWeighing in on the face, GB. Yes, in the water droplets, you guys are good. Now the confession: I missed that one entirely. I found the face head-on - an animator's dream (the outer skin the equivalent of a pointy hood). Anyone else see that one? Don't know, does that give a point to the other side? Does that men women see things differently from men?? McG
ReplyDeleteCan't see that one McGregor but I think the scores are quickly evening out and you may even get 1.5 for that seeing as no one else saw it.
DeleteI saw the water droplets forming the face before I read the other comments, so count me for the ladies' score, please.
ReplyDeleteHmmm if they regulate vacuum cleaners, why haven't they yet banned that suburban terror called leaf blowers? These are one of my pet hates, and if I were Queen of Germany, it would be my first action in office to ban them completely and re-introduce the good old broom.
Meike I thought of you when I wrote this because I know of your antipathy towards leaf blowers. I actually have one (I inherited it: I'd never have thought of buying one) and although I've never used it for blowing things I have gravel paths and when I cut the hedges it can be used as a vacuum cleaner and it picks up all the clippings off the gravel without picking up the gravel.
DeleteDespite being in shock over the vacuum dictatorship I saw the droplet face .... Very cool.
ReplyDeleteI think the ladies are in the lead now Fiona.
DeleteFill more space with your poetry. It's humorous.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouragement Red. I do have some more verses.
DeleteI immediately saw a face, but not the one described by Mark (although now I see that too). I see a sad face in the opening of the bud - wrinkled forehead, and corners of the mouth pointing down... (Does that upset your statistics?) Just checked my vacuum cleaner and it's 1800W. Better hold on to that one, I suppose! :) What happens if Scotland becomes independent? Will you still be part of the EC or can you independently produce your own powerful vacuum cleaners?
ReplyDeleteI suspect that you have now taken the ladies well into the lead Monica. The Scottish Government intends that an independent Scotland would be part of the EC. I suspect that labour costs in any part of what is now Britain would make vacuum cleaner manufacture uneconomic.
DeleteThere you go....an economic plan for when North Sea oil runs out. We have very powerful vacuum cleaners made in China, to a Scorrish design of course, import them, then smuggle them to England and continental Europe. We'll clean up!
Delete'Clean up'....very droll.
DeleteDon't know the wattage on my vacuum. I just know that it clogs up easily and the beater bar gets tangled, and without frequent poking with a coat hanger and even a scissors to cut the threads that have bound up the beater bar, it wouldn't pick up anything. But I've had it a long time, and I suspect a new one (which would cost me a lot more money) would probably be just as balky after a week or two. It's my personal feeling that vacuums only work well in the store, before they are sent home and get comfy and lazy! DeeDee
ReplyDeleteWhat an excellent way of putting it DeeDee. That's pretty much my experience too.
DeleteWhy are super-sookers to be banned?
ReplyDeleteEnergy efficiency and noise, Marcel?
DeleteYes, I saw the droplet face in the Agapanthus bud as soon as I looked at it...so pretty.
ReplyDeleteThe other two faces I had to look more carefully for.
Soon we won't have any choices....they will all be made for us but our governments.....since when do we need help choosing a vacuum cleaner??? Utter folly!!
I have still only seen the droplet face Virginia so I'm lagging well behind now.
DeleteNow I'm feeling inadequate, I can't see it. But I swear there's a little Martian rrying to escape from the bud on the right. Mind you, I can find a Martian in most places if I look hard enough.
ReplyDeletePauline you and your Martians! You can see them because they are there. Hadn't you realised that?
Delete